ABRAHAM 

INCOLN 


?n« 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


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Abraham    Lincoln 


Early  Days  In  Illinois 


REMINISCENCES    OF 

DIFFERENT  PERSONS 

WHO  BECAME 

EMINENT  IN 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 

By  I.  M.  SHORT 


SIMPSON  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

Kansas  City,  Missouri 
1927 


Copyright,  1927  by 

Simpson  Publishing  Company 

Kansas  City,  Missouri 


Printed  and   Bound  in  U.  S.  A. 


I 

C4 


DEDICATION 

To  Mr.  John  Richard  Weber,  now  a  resident 
of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa — one  who  has  spoken  and 
written  not  a  little  on  the  life  and  character  of 
Abraham  Lincoln — this  volume  is  respectfully  dedi- 
cated. 

The  plentitude  of  his  gray  hairs  furnish  but 
a  scant  reminder  of  the  little  boy,  who  at  one  time 
during  the  summer  of  the  year  1860,  sat  on  the 
knee  of  the,  great  man  to  whose  memory  we  are 
proud  to  pay  tribute  in  this  modest  little  volume. 


A  WORD  ABOUT  OUR  AUTHOR 

The  author  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  be- 
ing born  September  5,  1839,  not  many  miles  away 
from  Columbus,  and  here  was  spent  the  earliest 
part  of  his  childhood.  When  seven  years  old,  his 
father  moved  with  his  family  to  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois,  settling  again  on  a  farm  near  Springfield, 
then  the  new  capital  of  the  State.  Here  he  grew  up 
almost  to  young  manhood,  receiving  the  earliest  part 
of  his  education  in  the  common  schools  of  the  State. 
Later  on,  he  was  sent  to  the  academy  of  a  small 
town  where  he  pursued  some  of  the  higher  branches 
of  an  English  education  such  as  are  usually  taught 
in  such  schools.  Later  on  he  attended  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  taking  an  elective  course  of  study  at 
the  Collegiate  Institute  at  Fort  Edward,  pursuing 
some  of  the  higher  branches  such  as  higher  Mathe- 
matics, chemistry,  and  mental  philosophy,  and  still 
others  such  as  required  of  teachers  in  the  common 
schools  of  most  states,  including  natural  history, 
botany,  geology  and  astronomy.  But  he  came  to 
understand  his  deficiency,  and  to  become  more  am- 
bitious in  the  way  of  education,  and  that  to  be  pro- 
ficient as  a  teacher,  he  must  know  at  least  some- 
thing of  Greek  and  Latin.  So  he  changed  schools, 
putting  himself  under  the  care  of  a  teacher  of  a 
classical  school  who  made  a  specialty  of  those 
languages,  and  took  a  course  in  those  two  languages 
alone  of  a  length  of  two  years,  after  which  he  enter- 
ed the  regular  course  of  study  at  Dickinson  College 
at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.     He  was  there  attending 


school  the  time  of  the  civil  war,  but  when  Lee's 
army  came  up  through  the  Cumberland  valley,  and 
as  far  as  Carlisle,  he  went  home  to  Springfield, 
Illinois.  Here  he  remained  for  a  time  teaching  in 
this  vicinity,  and  never  went  back  to  Dickinson  to 
finish  his  course  of  study;  but  took  up  a  course  of 
architectural  drawing,  self-taught,  and  the  study  of 
French  as  a  means  to  help  out  in  the  profession 
which  he  thought  would  be  more  lucrative  than  the 
profession  of  teaching.  He  formed  the  idea  of  go- 
ing to  France  in  order  to  familiarize  himself  with 
the  twist  of  the  French  tongue,  and  went  to  Paris 
in  1868,  enrolling  himself  as  a  learner  with  the 
Association  Internationale  de  Professeurs  at  Rue 
332  St.  Honore,  Paris.  When  he  returned  to  the 
States,  he  followed  teaching  in  the  public  schools 
for  the  period  of  ten  years  before  dropping  that  pro- 
fession, and  taking  up  the  other  for  his  life's  work. 

Our  Author  has  now  reached  the  ripe  old  age  of 
eighty-eight  years,  is  active  physically,  and  mentally 
has  a  rich  store  of  knowledge  of  life,  and  experiences 
covering  all  these  years.  It  is  a  joy  to  know  and 
associate  with  such  a  man. 

He  has  led  a  consistent  Christian  life,  having 
taken  up  the  banner  of  the  Lowly  Nazarene  in  early 
manhood. 

The  Publishers. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


LINES  AND  PRAYER 

By  the  Author 

O  Illinois,  O  Illinois, 

The  land  of  grown  up  men, 

Whose  hands  and  feet  they  did  employ 

In   busy  task  e'en  then; 

A^pd  stalwart  men,  and  men  of  toil, 

Whose  interests  were  alive — 

The  products  of  a  virgin  soil — 

In  men  who  did  survive 

Through  hardships    dire,  virtuous  life, 

As  models  for  mankind, 

Go  woo  and  win  a  world  from  strife, 

In  holy  compact  bind. 

We  need  the  men  like  such  today, 

And  men  who  would  be  true 

And  never  failing  see  fair  play, 

Men  who  would  dare  and  do. 


Prayer 
Great  God  "from  whom  all  blessings  flow,' 

O  give  us  men  who  go 
With  fearless  step,  no  evil  know, — 

Save  country  from  its  woe. 


PREFACE 

|HE  WRITER  of  this  modest  volume  has  al- 
ways felt  a  pride  in  the  fact  that  he  was  once 
a  citizen  of  Springfield  than  which  there  is 
scarcely  another  city  of  its  size  and  age  in  this 
country  which  can  present  a  better  showing  in  the 
galaxy  of  great  men.  The  sterling  worth  of  some 
of  these  have  been  an  inspiration  to  attempt  to  give 
forth  some  expression  of  the  due  regard  the  writer 
has  felt  for  them  in  a  few  plain  and  truthful 
sketches  he  has  brought  together.  They  were  not 
faultless,  not  perfect,  but  were  true  men,  live  men, 
whom  we  knew  and  loved  just  as  they  were,  who 
lived  here  and  went  in  and  out  among  us.  No 
attempt  has  been  made  here  to  write  a  book  of  their 
lives,  but  only  to  bring  <out  from  memory  either  of 
himself  or  from  others  who  were  familiar  with 
these  persons,  some  of  the  incidents  of  their  lives, 
filling  in  between  them  from  true  sources  what  has 
been  related  of  them  in  order  to  render  them  real 
historical  characters  and  to  present  them  whole  and 
recognizable. 

So  many  lives  of  great  men  have  been  written 


by  those  who  never  knew  them,  Lincoln,  for  example, 
and  so  much  rhetoric  thrown  around  their  charac- 
teristic features  that  we  do  not  know  them.  It  is 
even  thus  with  him.  Or,  if  it  be  the  orator  or 
lecturer  on  the  life  of  Lincoln,  >so  many  flourishes 
are  thrown  about  him  that  his  characteristic  fea- 
tures are  spoiled.  To  send  him  skyward  is  to  spoil 
him.  Will  the  writers  and  speakers  leave  us  the 
Lincoln  we  knew  and  loved  with  all  his  faults  and 
inconsistencies  ? 

The  early  life  of  Lincoln  was  faulty,  that  is,  his 
young  manhood  life,  like  others  that  have  lived; 
but  there  was  a  great  deal  of  come  out  in  him  when 
he  came  to  maturer  years,  and  we  are  not  disappoint- 
ed in  him  after  all,  because  he  had  good  early  re- 
ligious training  which  righted  itself  and  asserted 
itself,  and  made  good  in  the  end.  Moreover,  he 
was  a  self-made  man,  as  also  was  Douglas  and 
nearly  every  one  else  held  up  to  view  in  these  pages. 
Let  every  young  person  who  may  read  this  little 
book,  and  who,  possibly,  may  have  a  hard  time  to 
rise,  or  think  they  have,  maintain  courage.  Honesty, 
frugality,  industry,  and  carefulness,  all  have  their 
virtuous  reward.  The  high  standards  of  excellence 
bring  victory  in  the  end. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER     -     -     -     -  15 

DOUGLAS  AND  WEBER    ------  30 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN         ------  44 

MORE  ABOUT  LINCOLN       -     -     -     -     -  66 

LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS     -----  8! 

LINCOLN    THE   RAIL-SPLITTER    AND 

SIR  KNIGHT  OF  THE  MAUL     -     -  101 

PRELIMINARIES  OF  THE  JOINT  DIS- 
CUSSION       ---------  115 

SPEECHES  OF  SENATOR  DOUGLAS     -  129 
AND  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN     -     -     -  170 

THE  JOINT  DISCUSSION     -----  202 

THE   REAL   DOUGLAS     ------  244 

THE    TWO    PARTISANS    AND    SOME 

OTHERS         ---------  269 

VIEWS  OF  MR.  LINCOLN  ON  THE 
CHRISTIAN  RELIGION  AND  THE 
BIBLE  -        --.__...  292 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory  Chapter 

HE  WRITER  desires  to  present  a  little  bit 
of  the  early  history  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  in 

these  pages,  which  concerns  principally  three 
estimable  citizens,  one  of  whom  was  the  joint-edi- 
tor and  proprietor  of  a  newspaper  in  a  very  early 
day;  the  other  two  were  eminent  lawyers  who  were 
well-known  in  the  local  fame  of  the  place  and  in  the 
surrounding  country,  but  who  later  on  in  life,  as 
the  city  and  country  developed,  became  distinguish- 
ed in  the  annals  of  the  history  of  our  country  as 
are  few  other  Americans.  The  two  whom  I  shall 
place  first  upon  the  list  were  the  most  distinguished 
citizens  that  Springfield  and  Illinois  ever  had,  Honor- 
able Stephan  A.  Douglas,  and  President  Abraham 
Lincoln,  but  ithe  third  mentioned  in  connection  with 
them  was  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  first  demo- 
cratic newspaper  published  at  Springfield,  and  whose 
name  was  George  R.  Weber.  It  is  necessary  to 
say  a  few  words  about  him  before  taking  up  the 
prominent  characters,  and  to  give  a  little  bit  of  his- 

15   ' 


16  Abraham  Lincoln 

tory  which  lies  in  the  foreground  and  necessary  to 
the  understanding  and  explanation  of  what  is  here 
desirable  to  say,  and  which  is  not  generally  well- 
known  outside  of  the  place,  and  only  by  a  very  few, 
or  at  most,  a  limited  number  who  have  lived  in  or 
near  the  confines  of  the  little  city,  who  have  survived 
to  this  time.  Perhaps  there  are  not  half  a  dozen 
persons  now  living  who  will  remember  the  facts 
which  the  writer  wishes  to  give,  and  which  concern 
the  three  individuals. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  was  a  small  boy  during 
a  part  of  this  early  period,  if  indeed  he  was  born. 
The  first  start  was  before  his  time,  and  much  that 
occurred  was  before  he  can  remember;  but  a  little 
later  on,  when  the  most  ^rapid  advances  were  made, 
he  can  remember  very  well,  as  do  most  of  the  young 
lads  who  were  neighbors  then  if  they  be  living. 
Something  needs  to  be  said  as  a  sort  of  background 
to  the  picture  he  would  produce  of  these  early  days ; 
something  in  regard  to  what  was  visible  of  the  wild 
and  native  state  of  the  region  in  which  the  little  city 
was  placed,  which  might  be  termed  its  environments, 
for  there  was  nothing  else  but  country  in  its  original 
state  to  be  seen.  He  will  be  pardoned,  then,  for 
giving  a  little  personal  experience  which  came  with- 
in his  own  observation  in  this  new  land  before  his 
narrative  of  folks  begins.  Just  a  few  words  about 
this  will  come  first. 

There  were  no  very  good  schools  or  educational 
advantages  of  any  kind  when  he  first  came  to  the 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  17 

country — only  such  as  were  usually  found  in  the 
early  stages  of  development  almost  any  where  at 
that  period,  but  they  were  not  long  delayed.  Yet 
the  people  were  an  honest  set  of  folk  and  moral.  I 
wonder  what  our  modernists  would  think  were  they 
to  be  set  down  in  such  environments?  One  thing 
is  sure.  They  were  fresh,  and  very  vigorous;  they 
had  good  native  minds  and  retentive  memories,  and 
very  certainly  they  retained  what  they  heard,  read, 
and  learned;  they  knew  how  to  make  good  use  of 
the  knowledge  they  had  acquired,  in  after  life  as 
opportunity  offered. 

As  to  the  writer,  he  was  one  of  a  numerous  fam- 
ily. The  families  then  were  nearly  all  numerous. 
My  father  had  emigrated  with  his  family  with  his 
effectsl  from  Ohio;  from  the  banks  of  the  Scioto 
river  to  the  banks  of  the  Sangamon.  How  freely 
the  waters  of  these  rivers  flowed!  Just  like  the 
blood  of  our  young  hearts,  for  we  were  all  strong 
and  very  hardy.  Everything  seemed  new  to  us,  and 
this  we  enjoyed.  I  can  recollect  very  well  on  our 
way  out  when  we  emerged  from  the  wooded  country 
of  Indiana  into  the  open  prairie  land  of  Illinois — the 
Grand  Prairies  they  were  called,  wild  and  beautiful ! 
I  had  often  heard  of  them  and  now  I  could  behold 
them  with  my  own  eyes.  What  a  sight  they  were 
to  my  vision!  It  never  seemed  the  same  after  be- 
ing plowed  and  cultivated  as  in  the  wild  and  native 
state.    The  memories  of  that  time  now  remind  me 


18  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  writing  of  the  lines  of  Bryant,  which,  when  I 
got  older,  I  committed  to  memory : 


The  prairies,  I  behold  them  for  the  first, 

And  my  heart  swells,  while  the  dilated  sight 

Takes  in  the  encircling  vastness.    Lo,  they  stretch, 

In  airy  undulations  far  away, 

As  if  the  ocean  in  his  gentlest  swell, 

Stood  still,  with  all  his  rounded  billows  fixed 

And  motionless  forever. 

The  Grand  prairies  of  Illinois  extended  across 
the  State  from  east  to  iwest  some  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  or  more,  and  from  north  to  south  a  greater 
distance  still.  Clumps  of  trees  and  groves  dotted  tt»e 
horizon,  and  limpid  streams  gleamed  in  the  sunlight 
where  they  were  not  skirted  with  trees.  Altogether 
in  those  days,  unimproved,  the  prairies  presented  a 
scene  of  ravishing  sweetness  and  beauty.  And  that 
is  the  way  I  remember  them  in  their  virgin  state. 
This  is  the  place  where  we  came  to  settle,  till  the 
soil,  develop  and  grow  up  in  city  and  country,  and 
this  is  the  place  where  men  were  made,  honest,  pure 
men,  self-made  men,  as  the  sequel  of  these  pages 
will  show. 

We  arrived  in  the  Fall  of  the  year,  spent  the  win- 
ter in  the  little  town  of  Mechanicsburg,  and  settled 
on  a  partially  improved  farm  in  the  Spring.  For  a 
time  we  lived  in  a  hewed  log  house  of  four  rooms, 
which  had  two  large  fire-places,  one  at  each  end  of 
the  house,  and  were  very  comfortable  until  we  could 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  19 

build  a  new  frame  house  of  three  times  its  size. 
Our  home  was  located  just  at  the  edge  of  the  woods. 
We  had  a  fractional  section  of  land,  half  of  which 
was  timber  and  half  prairie.  Almost  all  the  early 
settlements  were  made  along  the  edge  of  the  prairie 
skirted  by  the  timber  land.  This  gave  the  advan- 
tage of  not  having  to  clear  up  the  land  to  be  cultiva- 
ted and  also  timber  for  rails  for  fencing  and  fire- 
wood. My  father's  farm  was  situated  nearly  mid- 
way between  Springfield  and  Decatur,  a  little  near- 
er the  former  than  the  latter  place.  We  were  not 
many  miles  away  from  the  little  "Hanks"  farm 
which  was  rendered  famous  a  few  years  afterward 
by  "the  rail-splitter  of  the  Republic  of  the  West," 
as  he  was  sometimes  called  in  England  after  his 
name  had  passed  into  history.  But  his  fame  as  a 
rail-splitter  was  due  not  in  those  early  days  but  years 
afterward  <to  his  coming  into  political  prominence, 
and  when  he  was  about  to  receive  the  nomination 
of  a  State  convention  held  at  Decatur  previous  to 
the  National  convention  at  Chicago,  which  nominated 
him  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  on  this  wise:  A  relative  of  his  living 
on  this  farm  loaded  on  his  wagon  a  couple  of  old 
rails  which  Lincoln  is  said  to  have  made  when  he 
was  a  young  man,  hauled  them  to  the  convention, 
and  exhibited  them  to  the  convention.  The  "rail- 
splitter"  was  there  in  person.  He  said :  "I  can- 
not tell  whether  I  made  these  rails,  but  I  know  I 


20  Abraham  Lincoln 

made  a  great  many  rails  as  good  as  these."  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  these  rails  were  genuine 
rails  which  he  made.  None  of  the  neighbors  who 
were  familiar  with  the  circumstances  ever  doubted 
their  being  genuinely  his. 

The  wife  of  the  writer  of  these  pages  has  a  small 
piece  of  one  of  these  rails  which  passed  into  her 
hands  as  a  keepsake.  It  was  given  to  her  by  her 
father,  the  newspaper  man  referred  to  in  the  first 
paragraph  of  this  chapter.  He  was  there  attending 
the  convention,  the  friend  of  the  rail-splitter,  accom- 
panied him,  and  heard  what  he  said.  He  procured 
one  of  the  pieces  given  out.  Small  pieces  have  been 
given  off  from  the  original  piece  since  then  until 
but  little  is  left. 

As  to  the  Hanks  farm,  it  was  located  near  the 
present  town  of  Illiopolis,  which  has  been  called  the 
geographical  center  of  the  great  State  of  Illinois. 
But  we  did  not  value  it  at  this  early  date  on  account 
of  the  rails  which  fenced  it,  some  of  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  no  doubt  made.  It  lay  several  miles  away 
from  the  little  town  to  the  southeast,  and  over  the 
boundary  line  which  separated  Sangamon  County 
from  Macon  County.  That  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his 
early  life  when  he  first  came  to  this  region  lived 
upon  it  with  his  relatives  in  a  log  cabin,  slept  there, 
mauled  rails  in  the  timber  which  grew  upon  it,  and 
studied  there  by  the  flickering  firelight  in  pursuing 
fht  branches  of  a  rudimentary  education,  becomes 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  21 

somewhat  like  a  question  of  archaeology,  which  may 
make  the  heart  of  some  people  beat  a  little  faster  on 
becoming  acquainted  with  the  facts  relative  to  his 
life.  But  more  anon  of  the  rails  and  the  rail-split- 
ter. This  man  became  in  time  our  most  distinguish- 
ed citizen.  Poor  Lincoln!  How  we  all  pitied  him 
in  his  sad  and  untimely  taking  off,  and  his  tragic 
end! 

There  was  another  thing  to  be  mentioned  which 
usually  goes  with  a  new  country  like  this  was  in  its 
early  development,  which  makes  it  interesting,  and 
I  must  not  neglect  to  speak  of  it  here,  for  it  helps  to 
fill  out  the  picture  jn  the  foreground.  Wild  game 
was  very  plentiful  in  these  parts  at  the  time  of  which 
I  speak,  deer,  wild  turkeys,  wild  geese,  wild  ducks, 
brent-geese  (just  brents  for  short,  we  called  them) 
prairie  chickens,  quails,  squirrels,  rabbits,  and  the 
like.  We  country  lads  had  varied  experiences  in 
hunting  these,  usually  with  good  success.  There  is 
nothing  that  quite  equals  the  feverish  heat  of  the 
young  hunter  like  killing  a  deer,  or  which  stirs  the 
blood  to  such  a  pitch.  Nearly  all  hunting  was  done 
at  this  time  with  the  rifle.  Give  me  the  rifle  and  the 
"crack  shot."  There  is  something  noble  in  the  will- 
ingness to  give  the  game  a  chance  for  life,  rather 
than  to  seek  to  slaughter  it  wholesale  "just  for  fun" 
as  was  done  years  later  upon  the  plains  with  the 
buffalo. 

It  seems  also  necessary  to  say  a  foreword  about 


22  Abraham  Lincoln 

Springfield  before  taking  up  any  of  the  characters 
who  lived  there  about  whom  we  shall  have  some- 
thing to  relate  further  on.  Springfield  was  .situated 
on  the  prairie  not  a  great  way  from  the  timber  line, 
and  near  a  small  stream  called  Spring  Creek  on 
which  was  built  a  flour  mill  and  a  saw  mill  which 
kept  running  most  of  the  year.  Springfield  became 
the  new  capital  of  the  State,  having  been  moved 
from  Vandalia.  It  was  built  upon  low,  level  ground 
almost  a  frog  pond  at  first.  It  was  a  thriving  little 
city  when  I  first  knew  it,  of  about  four  thousand 
inhabitants.  Its  citizens  have  always  been  a  thor- 
ough-going, honest  class  of  people,  willing  to  live 
and  let  live.  It  has  now  grown  to  be  a  pretty  inland 
city  of  nearly  seventy  thousand  souls.  It  is  built  in 
a  good  style  of  architecture,  and  it  contains  many 
handsome  churches  and  business  buildings.  It  is 
noted  for  its  shady  streets  and  many  pretty  resi- 
dences. 

I  remember  well  the  first  time  I  was  there,  being 
attracted,  as  a  small  boy,  by  the  new  State  House 
scarcely  completed,  and  by  the  low  two-wheel  long- 
tail  drays  drawn  by  one  horse.  Being  the  capital 
of  the  State,  it  attracted  many  of  the  legal  frater- 
nity who  sought  patronage,  many  of  whom  became 
eminent  politicians.  It  became,  consequently,  well 
known  throughout  the  State  for  its  leading  jurists, 
much  more,  perhaps,  than  any  city  in  the  State  in 
an  early  day.   Judge  Douglas,  Judge  Logan,  Judge 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  23 

Treat,  General  Shields,  Abraham  Lincoln,  E.  D. 
Baker,  John  T.  Stuart,  Ben  Edwards,  and  Ninian 
Edwards,  besides  many  others,  settled  there;  and 
later  on,  S.  M.  Cullom  and  John  M.  Palmer  made 
it  their  home,  while  Richard  J.  Ogelsby  was  a  famil- 
iar person  upon  the  streets.  Five  of  these  gentle- 
men became  United  States  senators  while  they  lived 
there,  and  two  after  they  lived  elsewhere;  three 
were  congressmen,  and  one  was  president  of  the 
United  States.  Besides  these,  there  were  many  not 
so  widely  known,  but  familiar  personages  in  these 
parts,  who  became  distinguished,  holding  high  official 
positions  in  the  State  or  in  the  National  govern- 
ment. 

Nearly  all  the  above  mentioned  persons  were  law- 
yers, and  were  men  of  ability  in  their  profession, 
practicing  in  their  own  county  court  and  in  the  ad- 
joining counties  included  in  the  judicial  circuit  pre- 
sided over  by  the  same  judge.  Many  of  them  travel- 
led around  the  judicial  circuit  in  their  own  private 
conveyances  in  the  early  days  of  the  history  of  the 
country.  There  is  no  need  to  exagerate  the  ability 
of  any  of  these  jurists,  or  to  detract  from  the  repu- 
tation of  others  by  holding  these  up  to  view.  The 
writer  as  a  boy  knew  most  of  these,  not  intimately, 
but  reasonably  well,  and  others  who  practiced  in  the 
courts  embraced  in  the  judicial  circuit.  Lawyers 
and  doctors  as  well  as  other  professional  men  were 
not  so  plentiful  as  now,  and  we  knew  men  by  repu- 


24  Abraham  Lincoln 

tation  far  and  near.  There  were  not  so  many  en- 
gaged in  sharp  practice  in  the  law  as  now,  and  we 
had  a  profound  (respect  for  them.  Many  of  these 
became  politicians,  however,  to  the  neglect  of  the 
practice  of  the  law,  not  always  having  the  will  or 
inclination  to  stick  to  the  latter  as  closely  as  is  neces- 
sary, i 

I  am  now  about  ready  to  say  something  of  the 
persons  whom  I  have  mentioned  in  the  first  part  of 
this  chapter,  and  I  shall  now  take  them  up,  and  hold 
them  up  to  view  while  we  consider  some  of  the 
phases  of  their  character,  and  some  of  the  happen- 
ings in  their  history  which  brought  them  into  public 
notice.  The  first,  then,  to  be  considered,  will  be 
Mr.  George  R.  Weber,  the  newspaper  editor  and 
publisher. 

Briefly,  Mr.  Weber  was  a  native  of  Maryland, 
having  been  born  in  Baltimore.  He  was  of  Dutch 
origin,  a  humbler  citizen  than  either  of  the  others, 
as  to  fame,  but  well  born,  and  not  in  the  least  be- 
hind them  in  industry  and  the  honest  integrity  of 
his  character.  He  was,  like  the  others,  a  self-made 
man  with  a  good  native  mind,  a  wonderful  memory, 
pure-hearted,  and  "tender  as  a  woman;"  capable  of 
writing  a  good  editorial  for  a  newspaper,  using 
clear,  concise  language,  and  quite  capable  of  making 
a  good  stump  speech,  or  of  addressing  a  Sabbath- 
school.  He  knew  thoroughly  the  tricks  of  politicians, 
also. 


STEPHEIJ  A.  DOUGLAS 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  25 

He  learned  the  printing  business  in  the  Atlantic 
states,  and  partly  in  New  York  City  where  he  work- 
ed for  some  time  on  the  New  York  Journal  of  Com- 
merce. He  was  older  than  the  other  gentlemen  with 
whom  he  has  been  associated  on  the  first  page  of 
this  chapter,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  both  in  their 
early  struggle  to  rise,  and  survived  them  both  by 
quite  a  number  of  years.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
which  was  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  he  was  said  to 
be  the  oldest  newspaper  man  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 
From  his  own  published  correspondence,  entitled 
Reminiscences  of  Early  Times  in  Springfield,  it  is 
learned  he  settled  in  Springfield  in  the  Spring  of 
1835,  from  Virginia.  He  says:  "The  country  was 
sparsely  settled,  and  by  an  honest  and  industrious 
people.  The  houses  of  that  day  have  nearly  all  dis- 
appeared, to  make  room  for  others;  and  but  few  of 
the  early  business  men  of  thirty-six  years  ago,  at 
this  present  writing  remain.  A  new  city  has  been 
built,  and  another  generation  of  inhabitants  throng 
our  streets,  and  dwell  in  fine  houses  and  spacious 
mansions.  The  few  old  settlers  who  were  active 
then,  belong  to  a  generation  that  has  passed  away." 

He  further  states  in  these  "Reminiscences"  that 
there  were  two  newspapers  published  at  Springfield 
at  that  early  day;  one  of  which  was  the  Sangamo 
Journal,  published  by  Simeon  Francis  and  Brother ; 
the  other  was  the  Illinois  Republican,  the  Demo- 
cratic newspaper  mentioned  already  in  these  notes, 


26  Abraham  Lincoln 

established  by  himself  and  Mr.  Walters  his  partner, 
in  the  printing  business  in  May,  1835.  The  name  of 
the  former,  the  organ  of  the  Whig  party,  was  chang- 
ed to  the  Illinois  State  Journal;  the  name  of  the 
other  paper  published  was  changed  to  the  Illinois 
State  Register.  The  latter  was  done  when  Mr. 
Charles  Lanphier  became  the  proprietor  and  editor 
of  it.  The  Sangamo  Journal  was  some  years  the 
senior  of  the  Illinois  Republican.  Both  papers  are 
still  published  under  their  later  names. 

Mr.  Weber  goes  on  to  say  in  his  "Reminiscences" 
what  will  be  of  interest  to  some  people :  "The  State 
was  divided  into  three  Congressional  Districts.  San- 
gamon County  and  all  the  territory  north,  including 
the  villages  of  Chicago  and  Galena,  was  included  in 
the  third  Congressional  District.  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
then  a  young  man  and  somewhat  prominent  as  a 
young  politician,  awkward,  and  unpolished,  but  good 
hearted  and  popular. 

From  notes  of  Mr.  Weber  in  the  hands  of  his 
family,  it  is  learned  that  he  was  in  the  Nauvoo  war 
against  the  Mormons,  which  resulted  in  their  expul- 
sion from  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  held  a  commis- 
sion in  that  war  signed  by  Governor  Thomas  Ford, 
which  gave  him  the  rank  of  Major.  He  was  at  times 
in  command  of  the  anti-Mormon  forces  in  this  war. 
Mr.  Weber  was  also  a  soldier  in  the  early  part  of 
the  Mexican  war.  He  enlisted  as  a  private  in  a 
company  made  up  in  Springfield  and  in  the  county 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  27 

adjacent  thereto,  commanded  by  captain  Roberts, 
which  company  helped  to  make  up  the  regiment  of 
Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  from  this  part  of  the  state. 
His  partner  in  business  having  died,  it  became  nec- 
essary for  Mr.  Weber  to  return.  The  firm  held  a 
contract  with  the  State  as  public  printers  to  the  State, 
and  this  rendered  Mr.  Weber  a  State  officer  requir- 
ing his  return  in  order  to  look  after  the  affairs  of 
the  office.  The  matter  of  publishing  their  newspa- 
per, together  with  the  public  printing,  had  been  left 
in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Charles  Lanphier  while  the 
partners  of  the  business  were  absent. 

I  have  before  me  two  letters  to  Mr.  Weber  bear- 
ing upon  this  matter;  one  from  Governor  Ford, 
bearing  the  date  of  July  31st,  1846,  and  the  other 
of  the  same  date  from  one  Mr.  Brayman,  in  which 
the  former  was  inclosed.  I  give  here  an  extract 
from  the  latter :  "I  write  to  inform  you  of  the  death 
of  Mr.  Walters,  and  to  suggest  the  necessity  of  your 
immediate  return,  you  being  now  sole  public  printer, 
and  the  officer  in  whose  name  the  business  must  be 
carried  on.  The  death  of  Mr.  Walters,  of  course, 
terminates  the  agency  of  Mr.  Lanphier,  who  has 
no  further  authority  to  act  in  matters  of  an  official 
character.  Unless  you  return,  it  will  be  necessary 
for  you  to  appoint  an  agent  to  act  or  resign.  In 
either  case  your  various  interests  connected  with 
the  office  and  establishment  of  public  printer  can- 
not be  secured.     I  presume  that  Colonel  Baker  and 


28  Abraham  Lincoln 

Captain  Roberts  will  cheerfully  dismiss  you  from  the 
service.  I  enclose  you  a  letter  from  Governor  Ford 
to  Colonel  Baker  in  aid  of  this  object. 

Here  is  Governor  Ford's  letter  relative  to  Mr. 
Weber  : 

Executive  Department. 
Springfield,  Illinois,  July  31st,  1846. 
Colonel  E.  D.  Baker, 
Dear  Sir : 

I  regret  to  inform  you  of  the  death  of  William 
Walters,  Esq.  late  volunteer  with  you  in  the  present 
war.  Mr.  Walters  was  one  of  the  public  printers  of 
this  State,  In  Company  with  George  R.  Weber,  Esq., 
who  is  now  a  private  in  the  "Company  of  Captain 
Roberts  under  your  command.  The  decease  of  Mr. 
Walters  renders  it  necessary  that  Mr.  Weber  should 
return  in  order  that  the  affairs  of  the  office  may  be 
placed  in  proper  position. 

Should  Mr.  Weber,  therefore,  apply  either  for  a 
discharge  from  service,  or  for  a  furlough,  you  will 
confer  a  favor  by  granting  it  and  oblige, 

Yours, 
Thomas  Ford. 

We  are  now  about  ready  to  take  up  and  give  a 
bit  of  the  early  history  of  some  of  the  events  which 
occurred  in  the  developments  of  the  little  city  which 
became  the  capital  of  the  great  State  of  Illinois,  and 
which  has  grown  to  considerable  proportions  in  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  a  modern  city.     It  is  not  our 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  29 

purpose  to  give  here  a  chronological  epitome  of  the 
history  of  the  place,  but  only  to  state  a  few  of  the 
facts  and  incidents  which  connect  together  some  of 
the  great  men  as  they  were  dependent  upon  each 
other,  and  which  are  not  familiar  to  the  general 
reader,  even  to  those  who  are  living  in  the  place. 
There  are  happenings  which  may  not  be  familiar 
but  to  a  few,  for  those  who  will  remember  them  as 
told  by  the  preceding  generation  are  becoming  fewer 
year  by  year.  Indeed  those  whose  names  are  given 
in  a  group  together  on  a  foregoing  page  of  this 
chapter  are  all  dead,  and  those  who  knew  even  them 
personally  and  their  children,  many  of  them,  are 
nearly  all  gone. 


CHAPTER  II 

Douglas  and  Weber 

|S  MR.  DOUGLAS  came  into  prominence 
sooner  than  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  will  be  quite 
necessary  to  take  up  his  part  in  the  early 
history  of  Springfield  first,  and  to  speak  about  some 
of  the  events  which  led  up  to  his  early  development, 
and  which  contributed  in  making  him  what  he  after- 
ward became,  the  most  illustrious  senator  of  Illinois, 
and  in  the  latter  days  of  Clay,  Webster,  and  Calhoun, 
taking  rank  with  them  in  many  respects,  and  espe- 
cially as  an  able  debater  and  statesman.  Mr.  Doug- 
las -was  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Brandon.  He  came  to  Illinois  when  he 
was  a  young  man  and  made  that  State  his  home, 
growing  up  with  the  country.  Mr.  Douglas  once 
said :  "Vermont  was  a  good  State  in  which  to  be 
born,  but  that  one  needed  to  emigrate  West  pretty 
soon."  There  once  hung  a  cartoon  picture  of  Ver- 
mont in  the  office  of  a  small  hotel  in  a  little  town  in 
that  state  where  the  writer  stopped  for  some  time, 
and  it  represented  the  State  as  a  personified  woman, 
the  mother  of  Mr.  Douglas  as  a  lad  across  the  lap 

30 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  31 

in  a  state  of  chastisement,  and  in  a  pretty  precarious 
situation.  She  was  administering  a  few  spanks  on 
the  most  vulnerable  part  of  his  breeches,  saying 
meanwhile,  Stephen,  you  have  been  a  bad  boy  ever 
since  you  had  anything  to  do  with  that  Missouri 
Compromise  business.  It  was  even  as  she  said,  and 
I  have  always  remembered  it. 

When  Mr.  Douglas  came  to  the  region  of  Spring- 
field and  adjoining  counties,  he  stopped  for  a  time 
in  Winchester  and  in  Jacksonville,  and  later  in 
Springfield  where  he  made  (his  home  quite  a  num- 
ber of  years.  Mr.  Douglas  spoke  of  his  early  life 
in  Illinois,  in  his  joint  discussion  with  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  1858,  at  Ottawa,  and  in  connection  with  Mr. 
Lincoln,  the  latter  being  present  on  the  platform. 
He  said:  "I  have  known  him  [Mr.  Lincoln]  for 
twenty-five  years.  There  were  many  points  of  sym- 
pathy between  us  when  we  first  got  acquainted.  We 
were  both  comparatively  boys,  and  both  struggling 
with  poverty  in  a  strange  land.  I  was  a  school 
teacher  in  the  town  of  Winchester,  and  he  a  flourish- 
ing grocery  keeper  in  the  town  of  Salem.  He  was 
more  successful  in  his  occupation  than  I  was  in  mine, 
and  hence  more  fortunate  in  this  world's  goods. 
Lincoln  is  one  of  those  peculiar  men  who  perform 
with  admirable  skill  everything  which  they  under- 
take. I  made  as  good  a  school  teacher  as  I  could, 
and  when  a  cabinet  maker,  I  made  good  bedsteads 
and  tables,  although  my  old  boss  said  I  succeeded 


32  Abraham  Lincoln 

better  with  bureaus,  and  secretaries  than  with  any- 
thing else;  but  I  believe  that  Lincoln  was  more 
successful  than  I,  for  his  business  enabled  him  to  get 
into  the  Legislature.  I  met  him  there,  however,  and 
had  a  sympathy  with  him,  because  of  the  uphill 
struggle  we  both  had  in  life.  He  was  then  just  as 
good  at  telling  an  anecdote  as  now.  He  could  beat 
any  of  the  boys  wrestling,  or  running  a  footrace, 
in  pitching  quoits  or  tossing  a  copper.  I  sympa- 
thized with  him  because  he  was  struggling  with  diffi- 
culties, and  so  was  I.  Mr.  Lincoln  served  with  me 
in  the  Legislature  in  1836,  when  we  both  retired, 
and  he  subsided,  or  became  submerged,  and  was 
lost  sight  of  as  a  public  man  for  years.  In  1846 
when  Wilmot  introduced  his  celebrated  proviso,  and 
the  Abolition  tornado  swept  the  country,  Lincoln 
turned  up  as  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  San- 
gamon district.  I  was  then  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  and  was  glad  to  welcome  my  old 
friend  and  companion." 

In  his  speech  answering  Mr.  Douglas,  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  correcting  Mr.  Douglas,  denied  that  he 
had  been  a  grocery  keeper,  and  in  this  particular, 
said  that  the  Judge  was  mistaken.  The  charge  in 
reference  to  Lincoln,  which  I  have  suppressed  and 
which  was  only  made  pour  rire,  he  also  modified. 
But,  after  all,  there  was  a  grain  of  truth  in  the 
statement  of  Mr.  Douglas  when  the  facts  of  the 
early  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  are  all  known. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  33 

But  now  let  us  turn  away  from  this  statement  of 
Mr.  Douglas  to  his  own  early  history  at  Springfield. 
Here  I  wish  to  consult  Mr.  Weber's  Reminiscences 
again,  for  some  of  the  events  very  nearly  concern 
him.  "Mr.  Douglas  was  appointed  Registrar  of  the 
Land  Office  at  Springfield  by  President  Van  Buren, 
in  the  Spring  of  1837,  and  thus  became  a  citizen  of 
Springfield.  He  was  a  representative  from  Morgan 
County  in  the  Legislature,  at  the  time  of  his  ap- 
pointment. Mr.  Douglas  was  boyish  in  his  appear- 
ance, and  somewhat  in  his  manner;  was  a  ready 
writer,  and  a  fluent  and  bold  speaker.  He  made 
politics  his  chief  study,  to  the  neglect  of  his  profes- 
sion. He  wrote  considerably  for  the  columns  of 
the  Illinois  Republican,  which  appeared  both  as  edi- 
torial and  communicated.  The  paper  in  political 
circles,  was  regarded  as  the  organ  of  young  Doug- 
las." 

And  now  I  wish  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  in- 
troduction of  a  little  episode  which  renders  this  early 
history  a  little  more  spicy  and  interesting,  more  so 
than  it  would  otherwise  be  without  the  part  which 
Judge  Douglas  took  and  of  which  he  mainly  was 
the  cause.  In  the  year  1835-6,  the  Legislature  pass- 
ed a  law  for  the  removal  of  the  capital  of  the  State 
from  Vandalia  to  Springfield.  This  was  largely 
the  work  of  the  "long  nine"  who  were  all  tall  men, 
among  whom  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  not  much  above 
the  rest  in  point  of  stature.     I  give  here  the  names 


34  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  these :  Abraham  Lincoln,  Ninian  Edwards,  John 
Dawson,  Andrew  McCormic,  Daniel  Stone,  Wil- 
liam F.  Elkins,  Robert  T.  Wilson,  Job  Fletcher, 
and  Archer  Herndon.  A  number  of  towns  came  up 
for  consideration,  even  Illiopolis,  the  geographic 
centre  of  the  state,  although  no  town  existed  at  this 
point  at  that  time  (Herndon  and  Wick's  Life  of 
Lincoln.)  The  commissioners  were  appointed  to 
superintend  the  building  of  a  new  State  Capitol 
building  of  which  Doctor  Henry  was  the  acting  Com- 
missioner. Mr.  Weber  says  of  him  that  he  was  an 
able  political  writer  and  contributed  largely  to  the 
columns  of  the  Sangamo  Journal  both  politically  and 
otherwise.  Hence  the  newspaper  fights  of  that  early 
day  between  the  Journal  and  the  Republican  were 
mainly  between  Douglas  and  Doctor  Henry,  as  the 
champion  writers  of  the  political  parties. 

Mr.  Weber  in  his  Reminiscences  gives  some  of 
the  particulars  of  a  little  political  quarrel  which  oc- 
curred at  this  early  date,  which  became  for  a  short 
time  quite  a  serious  matter.  I  transcribe  here  from 
his  notes :  "Douglas,  in  several  anonymous  com- 
munications, attacked  Doctor  Henry,  as  actuig  State 
House  Commissioner,  denouncing  him  with  much 
bitterness,  as  being  unqualified  for  his  position,  and 
burlesquing  many  of  his  official  acts ;  and  advising 
the  Governor  to  remove  hini  for  incompetency,  and 
appoint  a  practical  builder — a  mechanic  or  architect, 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  35 

as  doctors  and  lawyers  knew  but  little  about  build- 
ing state  houses." 

"Doctor  Henry  and  many  of  his  friends,  believing 
Douglas  to  be  the  author  of  the  offensive  articles, 
determined  to  demand  the  name  of  the  author,  by 
calling  on  the  editor.  A  committee  was  appointed 
for  the  purpose  which,  armed  with  canes  and  pistols, 
waited  upon  the  editor  (until  then  supposed  to  be 
a  meek  man),  and  made  the  demand."  Douglas  had 
gotten  wind  of  it,  and  came  to  the  office  to  give  warn- 
ing. He  was  sitting  there  when  the  committee 
arrived.  "The  demand  was  made  with  threats  and 
a  flourish  of  the  cane,  when  the  meek  man  of  the 
press  planted  his  fist  in  the  face  of  the  chairman  of 
the  committee,  informing  him  at  the  same  time  that 
he  was  responsible  for  everything  that  appeared  in 
his  paper.  The  committee  was  thus  dispersed.  Doug- 
las being  an  eye  witness  to  the  disastrous  defeat  of 
the  committee,  gave  a  highly  colored  description  of 
what  had  occurred  in  the  next  issue  of  the  pape**, 
which,  when  the  paper  appeared,  resulted  in  a  deter- 
mination of  certain  aggrieved  parties  to  destroy  the 
printing  establishment  of  the  Illinois  Republican. 

"On  the  evening  of  the  next  day  which  was  the 
27th  of  June,  1837,  while  the  editor  and  his  em- 
ployees were  away  at  supper,  a  mob  appeared  before 
the  office  door  which  was  locked.  The  leader  of 
the  mob,  who  was  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  being 
on  a  'spree',  picked  up  a  stick  of  cord- wood  and  with 


36  Abraham  Lincoln 

it  burst  open  the  door,  and  ordered  the  men  into  the 
printing  office  and  throw  the  printing  material  into 
the  street,  promising  to  pay  all  damages." 

The  Weber  brothers  by  some  means  got  word  of 
what  was  going  on,  and  were  soon  in  the  midst  of 
the  scene.  There  were  three  of  them,  Douglas,  and 
one,  Doctor  Early,  a  fine  gentleman  (afterward  as- 
sassinated), and  a  few  others.  The  Webers  were 
equal  to  the  emergency.  There  was  not  a  drop  of 
cowardice  blood  in  their  veins;  pure  minded  and 
fearless  for  that  which  was  right,  and  for  that  which 
was  their  own.  They  went  in,  and  would  have  done 
so  if  the  door  had  been  lined  with  demons  and  devils. 
They  kicked  and  flung  the  mob-crats  from  the  build- 
ing in  short  order.  This  day's  work  had  a  funny 
ending,  but  the  next  day  was  more  serious,  for  the 
mob  rallied,  and  as  Mr.  Weber  and  a  younger 
brother*  walked  down  the  street  from  the  printing 
establishment  to  the  first  cross-street,  the  mob  closed 
in  upon  them.  The  sheriff,  whose  name  was  Elkins, 
struck  Mr.  Weber,  the  editor,  from  behind,  with 
a  loaded  whip-stalk,  and  felled  him  to  the  ground; 
the  other  brother  of  these  two  was  attacked  by  one, 
a  Doctor  Merryman,  said  to  be  the  "bully"  of 
Springfield,  with  a  great  flourish  of  his  arms  and 
fists.  This  brother  was  not  a  pugilist  nor  used  to 
the  ways  of  pugilism;  but  squaring  himself  very 
much  as  a  ram  or  as  a  billy-goat  gets  ready  for  * 
fray,  he  came  head  first  at  his  assailant,  butted  him 

*        John  B.  W*ber. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  37 

in  the  stomach,  and  knocked  him  down,  after  which 
he  proceeded  to  give  him  a  good  drubbing.  Just  at 
this  juncture  of  the  fight,  the  third  Weber  brother,* 
who  was  on  a  visit  from  Maryland,  came  along  and 
joined  in  the  fight.  Seeing  the  one  brother  had  been 
knocked  senseless,  and  the  other  engaged  in  the 
fight,  he  whipped  out  his  pocket  knife,  and  plunged 
it  into  the  back  of  the  sheriff  who,  fainting,  fell 
covered  with  blood,  and  was  carried  home.  This 
ended  the  fight  of  the  mob.  This  brother  who  was 
younger  than  either  of  the  others,  came  upon  the 
scene  of  the  fight  just  at  the  opportune  time  to  gain 
the  fight,  and  quell  the  mob.  He  was  arraigned, 
however,  before  the  court,  and  Mr.  Douglas  defend- 
ed him,  making  a  masterly  plea  which  cleared  him. 
These  happenings  gave  notoriety  to  the  paper  And 
the  spicy  and  able  articles  of  Douglas  as  editorials 
and  communications,  like  pure  and  good  democratic 
seed  sown  in  good  ground  resulted  in  the  nomina- 
tion of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  Congress  by  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  third  Congressional  dis- 
trict. His  opponent  was  Honorable  John  T.  Stuart, 
a  gentleman  of  talent  and  excellent  moral  charac- 
ter— the  Whig  candidate. 

This  was  a  hotly  contested  campaign,  and  was 
bitter  and  exciting.  Mr.  Douglas  distinguished 
himself  very  much  in  his  encounters  with  Mr.  Stuart, 
Baker,  Lincoln,  and  others,  on  the  stump.  Mr. 
Douglas  was  defeated,  but  only  by  a  very  small  ma- 

*         Jacob   Weber. 


38  Abraham  Lincoln 

jority,  and  he  achieved  the  name  of  the  "little  Giant" 
in  this  campaign.  It  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  paved  the  way  for  greater 
honors  in  the  State,  which  came  thick  and  fast. 

The  causes  which  contributed  to  his  success  were 
various,  and  they  followed  in  such  rapid  succes- 
sion they  now  seem  in  looking  over  them  to  have  been 
fortuitous  in  his  making.  Let  us  run  over  them  in 
rapid  review.  Born  in  Brandon,  Vermont,  in  1813, 
he  came  west  when  quite  a  young  man ;  taught  school 
for  a  time  after  he  came;  he  continued  in  the  mean- 
time the  study  of  law  which  he  had  already  begun, 
and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Jacksonville 
in  1834.  He  was  attorney  general  of  the  State 
that  same  year,  and  in  1835,  he  became  a  member 
of  the  legislature.  He  was  secretary  of  State  in 
Illinois  in  1840,  and  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  Illinois  in  1841.  From  1843  to  1846,  he  was  a 
member  of  Congress,  and  from  1846  to  1860,  he 
was  a  United  States  senator.  In  1860,  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States, 
representing  the  Popular  Sovereignty  wing  of 
the  Democratic  party,  the  other  wing  going  over 
to  John  C.  Breckinridge.  By  means  of  this  split  in 
the  Democratic  party,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States.  It  was  a  rapid  stride. 
Honors  could  not  well  come  faster. 

But  Mr.  Douglas,  as  a  self-made  man,  and  the 
greatest  senator  that  the  State  of  Illinois  has  ever 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  39 

had,  perhaps,  is  deserving  of  a  little  more  extended 
account  than  is  given  him  in  the  above  rapid  sketch. 
He  was  of  good  American  Revolutionary  stock, 
his  grandfather  having  been  a  soldier  under  Gen- 
eral Washington,  and  was  present  with  him  at  Val- 
ley Forge  and  at  Yorktown.  His  father  was  a 
physician,  and  settled  at  Brandon,  Vermont,  where 
Mr.  Douglas  was  born,  and  he  died  while  the  child 
was  an  infant.  Mr.  Douglas  received  the  princi- 
pal part  of  his  education  in  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  State  up  to  the  time  he  was  fifteen  years 
of  age.  He  showed  an  aptitude  and  perseverance  for 
an  extended  course  at  college,  but  the  family  was  too 
poor  to  undergo  the  expense. 

He  apprenticed  himself  to  a  cabinet-maker  to 
learn  the  business.  He  applied  himself  at  this  busi- 
ness for  nearly  two  years  at  the  end  of  which  time 
he  gave  it  up,  and  returned  to  his  studies  in  an  acad- 
emy at  Brandon.  But  the  family  did  not  remain 
long  in  Brandon  after  this  period.  Indeed  the  next 
year  they  moved  to  Canandaigua,  New  York,  where 
Mr.  Douglas  pursued  the  study  of  law  in  the  law 
office  of  one  Mr.  Hubble.  By  this  time  he  arrived 
at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  and  set  out  for  the  West, 
determined  to  embark  in  the  practice  of  law.  On  his 
way  out,  he  stopped  at  numerous  cities,  including 
Cincinnati,  Louisville,  and  St.  Louis,  to  see  if  they 
were  proper  places  for  him  to  locate.     He  pulled  up, 


40  Abraham  Lincoln 

however,  in  the  State  of  Illinois  where  he  establish- 
ed himself  permanently. 

Douglas  was  a  very  ardent  and  resolute  young 
man,  possessed  of  rare  reasoning  powers,  destined 
to  attain  pre-eminence  among  his  fellows.  Arriving 
in  Illinois,  he  first  taught  school  in  Winchester 
where  he  had  forty  pupils,  still  giving  his  energies 
to  the  study  of  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  immediately 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  legal  profession  in 
Jacksonville,  the  Athens  of  the  West.  By  sheer 
destiny  he  seemed  to  drift  into  political  life,  and 
before  he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  was 
elected  by  the  Legislative  Assembly,  Attorney-Gen- 
ral  of  the  State  against  the  distinguished  competitor, 
the  Honorable  John  J.  Hardin.  The  next  year, 
1836,  he  was  elected  by  a  Democratic  vote  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature.  The  next  year  after  this, 
he  received  the  appointment  from  President  Van 
Buren  of  Registrar  of  the  Land  Office  at  Spring- 
field, and  the  same  year,  was  candidate  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  for  Congress,  and  he  would  have  been 
elected  had  not  a  few  votes  on  which  his  name  was 
mispelled,  been  thrown  out,  which  gave  a  majority 
of  five  out  of  more  than  forty  thousand  votes  cast, 
to  Mr.  John  T.  Stuart,  the  Whig  candidate.  He 
pursued,  meanwhile,  his  profession  of  the  practice 
of  law,  and  eagerly  entered  into  the  canvass  for 
Van  Buren  in  the  presidential  campaign  which  re- 


GEORGE  R.  WEBER 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  41 

suited  in  the  election  of  General  William  Henry 
Harrison.  From  this  time  forward,  he  arose  in 
political  prominence  in  Illinois  very  fast.  He  was 
appointed  Secretary  of  State  in  1840,  and  the  next 
year  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  a  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  at  the  age  of  27,  discharging 
the  duties  of  that  office  for  two  years  or  until  1843, 
when  he  was  elected  to  Congress.  He  was  re-elec- 
ted to  that  office  in  1844,  and  in  1846,  and  at  the 
expiration  of  that  term  of  office,  the  Legislature 
elected  him  Senator  of  the  United  States  for  the  full 
term  of  six  years.  He  was  twice  re-elected  to  the 
same  office,  terminated  only  with  his  death.  The  last 
time  was  the  celebrated  and  hotly  contested  campaign 
of  1858,  in  which  his  competitor  was  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Had  there  not  been  a  Douglas  there  would 
not  have  been  a  Lincoln  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  joint  discussion  which  they  had  in  Illinois 
in  1858,  over  the  senatorship,  while  the  election  re- 
sulted in  the  defeat  of  the  latter  for  that  office, 
brought  out  the  greatness  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  gave 
such  color  to  his  fame  that  by  it  he  became  the  Re- 
publican candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  was 
elected. 

But  the  joint  discussion,  how  did  it  come  to  take 
place?  It  had  a  history  which  I  shall  now  relate. 
The  fact  is,  Judge  Douglas  was  the  best  advertised 
man  in  the  state  of  which  he  was,  doubtlessly,  the 


42  Abraham  Lincoln 

widest  known  Senator  that  Illinois  has  ever  had, 
occupying  as  has  often  been  asserted,  a  larger  share 
of  public  attention  than  any  other  American  Senator. 
Of  Lincoln  at  the  time  he  made  the  challenge  to 
Douglas,  there  cannot  be  said  nearly  so  much,  and  he 
knew  this  right  well.  He  was  not  inferior,  possibly, 
in  debate,  or  in  the  quality  of  his  mind,  and  this 
Douglas,  too,  knew  right  well.  But  he  had  not  been 
so  long  nor  so  well  tested.  The  Democrats  were 
especially  bitter  towards  Lincoln  for  following 
Douglas  around  and  contesting  every  inch  of  ground, 
availing  himself  of  the  advertisement  which  Douglas 
gave  him.  This  charge  nettled  Lincoln  as  did  also 
a  certain  other  feature  of  the  campaign  which  we 
will  presently  give.  We  who  were  living  on  the 
ground  often  heard  such  charges  during  the  cam- 
paign. Lincoln  did  follow  Douglas  around  to  a 
great  extent,  but  this  was  not  always  his  fault.  One 
thing  is  sure,  and  both  Douglas  and  Lincoln  realized 
the  fact  which  is  this :  the  acceptance  of  the  chal- 
lenge by  Douglas  made  it  possible  for  us  to  know 
the  Lincoln  as  we  have  today,  and  it  should  not  seem 
surprising  to  learn  that  he  (Douglas),  hesitated  mo- 
mentarily and  said  to  certain  friends: 

''Between  you  and  me,  I  do  not  want  to  go  into 
the  debate.  The  whole  country  knows  me,  and  has 
me  measured.     Lincoln,  as  regards  myself,  is  com- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  43 

paratively  unknown,  and  if  he  gets  the  best  of  this 
debate — and  I  want  to  say  that  he  is  the  ablest  man 
the  Republicans  have  got — I  shall  lose  every- 
thing. Should  I  win,  I  shall  gain  but  little.  I  do 
not  want  to  go  into  a  debate  with  Lincoln."* 

The  other  feature.  Whoever  would  read  these 
debates,  will  scarcely  fail  to  notice  that  throughout 
the  speeches  of  Douglas  much  of  his  time  was  de- 
voted to  Judge  Trumbull,  who  had  been  denomi- 
nated a  "veritable  thorn  in  the  side  of  Douglas.  So 
much  of  the  Douglas  attention  and  newspaper  com- 
ment became  centered  upon  Trumbull  that  Lincoln 
considered  himself  ignored  and  without  delay,  he 
sought  to  counteract  that  influence  by  securing  a 
series  of  joint  debates  with  Douglas/'t 

The  newspapers  took  up  the  matter  when  the  cor- 
respondence was  given  to  the  press,  and  a  general 
explosion  took  place  and  in  a  variety  of  ways.  The 
writer  remembers  it  well,  but  not  the  exact  words 
of  the  verbiage  to  give  any  of  it.  However,  it  afford- 
ed some  degree  of  amusement  to  those  who  lived  on 
the  farm,  and  was  an  occasion,  to  some  of  us  young 
lads,  of  laughter  at  some  of  the  witty  things  that 
were  sometimes  said.  I  give  in  full  in  a  subsequent 
chapter  the  correspondence  which  followed  Mr. 
Lincoln's  letter  of  challenge  to  the  joint  debate. 


Mr.    Stevens   in   his    Life   of    Douglas. 
Ibid 


CHAPTER  III 

Abraham  Lincoln 


E  NOW  turn  away  from  considering  Mr. 
Douglas,  a  wonderful  man  in  many  respects, 
in  order  to  take  up  another;  a  greater  and 
more  wonderful  man  still,  Mr.  Lincoln,  save  as  it 
becomes  necessary  to  speak  of  him  further  in  con- 
nection with  the  latter  in  anything  we  may  have  to 
say  about  the  early  stages  of  his  development  where 
the  two  men  were  brought  together  in  contrast  with 
each  other  in  any  relation,  or  as  partisans.  Great 
Lincoln!  Honest  and  upright,  simple  and  true- 
hearted,  "Honest  Old  Abe,"  as  he  was  sometimes 
called  during  the  great  campaign  with  Douglas, — 
the  friend  of  the  weak  and  defenceless, — how  shall 
we  approach  his  record  or  say  anything  about  him 
that  has  not  already  been  said?  Have  not  the  his- 
torians ransacked  all  the  sources  of  information  in 
relation  to  him,  searched  diligently  every  letter  of 
his,  and  listened  to  his  every  saying  told  them,  to 
find  out  something  new  to  relate?  His  public  life 
is  well  known,  and  a  few  anecdotes  remain  among 
his  friends  at  home  which  have  not  been  told,  only 
a  few  more  facts  in  the  reminiscences  of  him  by  his 
friends  are  left  to  be  gathered  up.  Great  Lincoln' 
the  man  of  great  destiny,  fitted  and  prepared  of 
Providence  to  fill  the  place  he  occupied  during  the 
44 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  45 

dark  days  of  civil  strife  when  men's  hearts  were  fail- 
ing them !  How  shall  we  say  more  ?  Yet  his  friends 
at  home  knew  him  best,  and  one  man  in  particular 
among  them  all,  has  given  the  truest  account  of 
him,  his  law-partner,  Mr.  Herndon,  who  com- 
menced a  true  life  of  Lincoln,  getting  far  advanced 
in  his  work,  but  later  on  abandoned  it  as  an  inoppor- 
tune time  for  such  an  undertaking,  declaring  that 
after  the  assassination  of  the  president,  the  public 
mind  was  in  such  a  state  it  would  not  bear  the  whole 
truth  about  him  to  be  told.  Now  the  public  state 
of  mind  has  somewhat  subsided,  and  a  more  just 
estimate  of  Lincoln  may  be  given.  His  manuscript 
notes  and  letters  gathered,  Mr.  Herndon  turned 
over  to  other  hands;  but  he  wrote  other  notes  and 
he  had  other  letters  afterwards  which  he  did  not 
turn  over,  or  give  out.  The  true  and  unbiased  life 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  is  yet  to  be  written. 

Lincoln  was  a  son  of  the  South,  it  may  be  claim- 
ed by  some,  as  to  his  nativity,  of  obscure  parentage, 
of  Kentuckian  origin,  and  of  a  state  which  remain- 
ed neutral  throughout  the  civil  strife.  His  true 
sources  have  filtered  through  little  by  little  until  the 
truth  about  his  origin  has  become  known.  Mr. 
Lincoln's  ancestry  runs  back  into  Virginia.  His 
grandfather,  whose  name  was  Abraham  Lincoln, 
emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Jefferson  County,  Ken- 
tucky about  1780.  Lincoln's  father's  name  was 
Thomas  Lincoln,  and  his  mother's  name  was  Nancy 


46  Abraham  Lincoln 

Hanks*  before  she  was  married.  They  were 
married  the  12th  of  June,  1806.  The  person  who 
performed  the  marriage  ceremony  was  a  Methodist 
minister,  the  Rev.  Jesse  Head,  who  left  a  marriage 
certificate  in  the  records  of  Washington  County, 
Kentucky.  President  Lincoln  had  a  sister  older 
than  himself,  whose  name  was  Sarah,  and  she  was 
born  February  10th,  1807.  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  February  12th,  1809. 
When  his  mother  died,  Mrs.  Nancy  [Hanks] 
Lincoln,  he  had  for  his  stepmother,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Bush  Johnston  who  was  born  December  13th,  1788, 
and  who  was  living  in  Kentucky.  She  had  been 
the  sweetheart  of  Mr.  Thomas  Lincoln  when  both 
were  young;  so,  when  his  first  wife  died,  the  father, 
scarcely  a  year  afterward,  sought  her  again  in  her 
home  in  Kentucky.  She  was  a  widow,  and  was 
living  there.  He  went  to  see  her  December  1st,  and 
they  were  married  December  7th,  1819.  Herndon 
and  Weik,  in  their  work  upon  the  "Life  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,"  have  this  to  say  of  them :  "Their 
courtship  was  short.     He  said  to  her,  Miss  Johns- 

*  There  is  a  difference  in  this  record  in  Herndon  and  Weiks  work 
on  the  Life  of  President  Lincoln  and  another  in  possession  of  the 
writer,  furnished  him  by  the  Rev.  Charles  T.  Alexander,  D.D.  a 
Baptist  minister,  in  regard  to  the  maiden  name  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
mother.  The  latter  reads  thus :  "Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hicks 
were  married  by  a  Methodist  minister  by  the  name  of  Jesse  Head." 
This  document  is  from  a  more  recently  discovered  source;  probably  an 
error  in  transcribing  the  name  from  the  church  record,  or  from 
the  spelling  of  the  name  by  the  recording  secretary  of  the  church 
record,  or  still  by  careless  printing  of  the  name  in  a  newspaper 
from  which  it  was  taken.  Farther  on,  when  I  come  to  speak  of  the 
religious  bias  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life,  or  his  early  bringing  up,  I 
shall  give  this  crude  document  verbatim  in  its  entirety.  It  is  valuable 
as   respects    the   religious    life  of  the   family   of   Mr.    Lincoln's   father. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  47 

ton,  I  have  no  wife  and  you  have  no  husband.  I 
came  a-purpose  to  marry  you.  I  knowed  you  from 
a  gal,  and  you  knowed  me  from  a  boy.  I've  no 
time  to  lose;  and  if  you're  willin',  let  it  be  done 
straight  off.1'  She  replied  that  she  could  not  marry 
him  right  off,  as  she  had  some  little  debts  which  she 
wanted  to  pay  first.  He  replied,  "Give  me  the  list 
of  them."'  He  got  the  list  and  paid  them  that  even- 
ing. 

We  learn  from  this  same  authoritative  work  on 
the  life  of  President  Lincoln,  that  a  four  horse 
wagon  load  of  housekeeping  goods  was  carted  off 
to  the  home  in  Indiana.  We  learn  from  the  same 
work  on  the  authority  of  Dennis  and  John  Hanks, 
the  former  being  known  to  the  writer,  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  sister  Sarah  was  married  to  one,  Aaron 
Grigsby,  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  in  the  month  of 
August,  1826,  and  that  she  died  January  20th, 
1828.  She,  with  her  brother,  went  to  school  to- 
gether when  very  young  in  Kentucky,  she  being  only 
seven  years  old,  but  that  their  father  moved  away 
with  them  to  Indiana  before  she  had  finished  her 
ninth  year. 

The  writer  in  his  boyhood  knew  Mr.  Lincoln,  but 
not  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  young  man.  The  period 
in  which  he  knew  him  was  later  in  life,  and  when 
Mr.  Lincoln's  public  life  became  better  known 
throughout  the  country  and  throughout  the  state. 
When  he  first  became  known  to  Springfield  folk, 
his  reputation  was  by  no  means  enviable,  but  there 


48  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  a  great  deal  of  "come  out"  in  him,  and  men 
here  developed  fast.  None  of  the  young  ladies  of 
that  time  thought  him  a  very  gallant  beau,  however, 
and  none  liked  to  dance  with  him,  neither  is  it  re- 
ported that  he  was  regarded  as  very  entertaining 
in  his  conversation  by  the  fair  sex. 

He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  of  limited 
education.  Even  after  he  received  the  nomination 
for  the  presidency,  especially  in  the  remote  Eastern 
states,  and  more  especially  in  New  England,  there 
was  somewhat  of  doubt  as  to  whether  he  would  be 
at  all  able  to  write  an  inaugural  address  and  more 
especially  a  creditable  state-paper.  The  writer  dur- 
ing his  stay  in  Vermont,  which  was  at  the  period  of 
the  first  part  of  his  campaign  for  the  presidency, 
was  asked  more  than  once  in  regard  to  this.  Yet 
he  proved  quite  capable  of  either,  and  his  memorial 
address  on  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg,  without  an 
hour's  preparation,  has  gone  down  in  history,  in 
point  of  style,  simplicity,  and  as  an  example  of  pure 
English,  as  a  classic. 

Of  humble  birth  and  from  the  ranks  of  the  com- 
mon people,  single-handed  and  alone,  without  wealth 
or  education,  he  arose  to  the  summit  of  power  and 
dignity,  the  highest  his  countrymen  could  confer. 
How  was  he  enabled  to  do  this?  Everything  in 
form  and  outward  expression  would  seem  to  be 
against  him.  First  of  all,  it  must  be  conceded, 
there  was  nothing  to  mark  him  out  or  to  distinguish 
him  above  his  fellows — only  the  opposite  of  this. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  49 

It  has  often  been  asked  of  those  who  knew  him  well 
as  intimate  neighbors  and  friends,  if  there  was 
anything  before  the  great  joint  discussion  between 
himself  and  Senator  Douglas,  which  had  very  great- 
ly distinguished  him  above  and  beyond  others  of 
his  friends  at  Springfield,  or  of  the  state,  who  had 
held  responsible  position  of  public  trust,  or  who  had 
sought  to  do  so?  It  must  be  answered  that  there 
was  not.  And  yet  when  this  is  done,  the  answer 
should  be  with  every  kind  of  reserve ;  for,  there 
were  instances  in  his  life  (before  this  period  when 
he  was  able  to  launch  forth  jets  of  brilliancy  which 
truly  betrayed  symptoms  of  a  great,  powerful  and 
inerrant  mind.  This  was  in  1854,  when  he  was 
candidate  for  the  United  States  senatorship  against 
General  Shields,*  his  old  duelling  antagonist,  and 
when  the  whole  question  of  slavery  came  up  for  re- 
view, being  a  time  which  afforded  an  opportunity 
for  arousing  the  latent  energies  within  him,  and 
for  the  display  of  eloquence.  Lincoln  was  thor- 
oughly aroused,  and  was  equal  to  the  emergency. 
The  writer,  although  a  boy  in  his  "teens,"  remem- 
bers this  campaign  well.  The  whole  question  of 
slavery  was  then  debated.    There  were  three  or  four 

*  It  may  be  well  to  give  a  word  of  explanation  of  this  difficulty.     Mr. 

Lincoln  had  written  and  published  some  sort  of  scurrilous  letter  in 
the  Sangamon  Journal  against  James  Shields,  a  Democratic  politician, 
under  an  anonymous  signature.  Other  letters  followed  under  the 
same  signature  written  by  Lincolnfs  sweetheart,  Miss  Mary  Todd, 
and  her  friend,  Miss  Julia  Jayne.  Shields  was  furious.  Lincoln, 
to  shield  the  ladies,  took  the  blame  upon  himself.  What  was  meant 
for  fun  came  near  being  a  serious  matter.  Shields  challenged  Lincoln 
to  fight  a  duel,  and  Lincoljti  accepted,  choosing  "broad  swords."  They 
met  upon  the  ground  to  fight,  but  friends  to  both  men  met  with  them 
to  intercede  not   to  fight,  and  prevailed. 


50  Abraham  Lincoln 

years  in  this  period.  It  was  always  Lincoln's  for- 
tune, whether  considered  good  or  bad,  during  all 
his  greatest  efforts  ,in  political  life,  to  be  pitted 
against  Douglas  in  debate.  Both  men  were  poli- 
ticians, and  they  usually  locked  horns,  whether  in 
literary  clubs  and  lyceums  in  their  early  days  in 
Springfield,  in  the  State  Legislature,  or  elsewhere. 
Whatever  there  was  in  his  early  life  in  Springfield 
of  aberration  of  mind,  it  was  now  effectually  effac- 
ed, and  he  rose  to  the  full  height  of  his  manly  dig- 
nity that  defied  all  his  competitors. 

Lincoln  was  an  anomaly  in  himself,  an  enigma  to 
many,  difficult  of  explanation.  He  was  not  a  book- 
worm, that  is  to  say,  not  a  reader  of  many  books. 
Whence,  then,  his  knowledge,  and  by  what  means 
was  he  enabled  to  grapple  and  engage  with  his  great 
opponents  such  as  Douglas  and  others,  and  to  main- 
tain the  equilibrium  of  a  great  discussion,  showing 
himself  up  in  the  arts  of  a  great  debater  and  the 
habits  of  a  well  disciplined  mind?  This  would  seem 
to  result  from  his  power  to  originate  ideas  in  some 
sort  of  spontaneous  way  in  modes  of  thought  and 
expression  all  his  own,  rather  than  as  an  imitator; 
or,  if  the  latter,  he  had  learned  how  to  assimilate  all 
he  had  heard,  felt  and  known  through  the  thoughts 
of  others,  classifying  and  arranging  the  impressions 
that  came  to  him  until  they  became  as  it  were,  all 
his  own  original  reflections.  Let  us  look  at  him  in 
his  habits  in  his  own  home  town  of  Springfield,  and 
view  him  in  progress  of  development,  being  made 


'Early  Days  in  Illinois  51 

ready  when  the  crucial  period  came  which  was  to 
make  him  the  uppermost  man  of  his  age  among 
all  his  countrymen. 

In  the  view  we  shall  take  of  him,  we  will  pass 
over  silently  most  of  his  early  life,  especially  that 
part  which  was  spent  on  the  farm  in  Macon  countv 
making  rails  to  fence  it  although  later  on  we  shall 
have  something  to  say  on  his  fame  as  a  railsplitter. 
Nor  yet  do  we  wish  to  say  much  upon  that  part  of 
his  life  spent  at  New  Salem;  that  part  has  been  told 
often  enough  to  be  familiar  to  most  persons  who 
have  read  the  various  books  which  have  been 
written  of  Lincoln's  life.  But  we  do  wish  to  men- 
tion some  of  the  events  and  incidents  in  the  ex- 
perineces  of  his  early  history  in  his  home  town 
among  his  friends  at  Springfield,  which  endeared 
him  to  them  and  which  affected  him  greatly  and 
worked  to  his  interest  and  to  his  fame. 

It  might  be  a  proper  thing  to  do,  if  the  writer 
were  intending  to  make  a  brief  sketch  of  the  life 
of  Lincoln,  to  speak  of  him,  somewhat  in  chrono- 
logical order  as  a  private  man,  as  a  public  man,  as 
a  lawyer,  and  as  a  politician.  But  this  he  is  not 
endeavoring  to  do, — only  to  give  a  reminiscence  of 
him  made  out  from  personal  recollection  of  the 
man,  and  his  knowledge  derived  from  what  has 
been  told  him  by  others  who  were  intimate  with 
him,  and  who  were  his  friends.  Yet  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  give  some  points  in  his  life  coming  under 


fc!8RARt 

UNIVERSITY  W  S8JlJtf«! 


52  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  above  heads,  but  not  always  in  the  foregoing 
order. 

From  what  we  know  of  Lincoln,  his  political  re- 
cord began  before  he  commenced  the  practice  of 
law,  or  before  he  made  much  headway  in  his  pro- 
fession. This  is  due,  it  may  be  supposed,  to  his 
association  with  members  of  the  bar  while  he  was 
in  the  legislature,  or  at  least  in  part,  that  he  formed 
the  design  of  the  practice  of  law.  Indeed,  while 
he  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  New  Salem,  he  felt 
stirred  by  a  power  within  him  working  out  the  prob- 
lem of  his  early  education,  and  he  would  borrow 
books  of  (a  lawyer,  reading  them  at  night  and  re- 
turning them  the  next  morning.  It  is  perhaps  due 
to  his  first  law  partner,  Mr.  John  T.  Stuart,  more 
than  to  any  other  source  or  influence,  who  was  as- 
sociated with  him  during  the  Black  Hawk  War,* 
he  being  a  good  and  reputable  lawyer,  lending  him 
books  and  prevailing  on  him  to  come  to  Spring- 
field to  live.  So  that,  it  is  said,  Lincoln  rode  to 
Springfield  about  the  first  of  the  year  1837,  on  a 
borrowed  horse,  with  a  pair  of  saddle  bags  in  which 
there  were  a  few  books  and  a  few  pieces  of  cloth- 
ing, in  order  to  make  the  new  capital  of  the  state 
his  home.  The  store  of  Mr.  Joshua  Speed  became 
his  headquarters.     Mr.  Stuart  took  him  into  part- 

*  Mr.    Lincoln    was    Captain    in    this    war,    and    Mr.    Stuart    was    a 

Major  serving  with  him.  In  relation  to  this,  Mr.  Joseph  Fort  New- 
ton in  his  work  entitled  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  quotes  in  a  footnote 
this  passage  from  the  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  by  his  wife :  "Then  a 
tall,  gawky,  slabsided  young  man,  dressed  in  a  suit  of  blue  jeans, 
presented  himself  as  captain  of  a  company  of  recruits,  and  was  sworn 
in  service  by  Jefferson  Davis."  A  strange  coincidence  when  we  think 
of   the   future  record   of  these   two  men. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  53 

nership,  the  name  of  the  firm  becoming  Stuart,  and 
Lincoln. 

Both  partners  were  members  of  the  legislature, 
and  served  during  the  term  of  that  year.  That  year 
proved  an  exciting  one  for  Mr.  Stuart  who  was  the 
opposing  candidate  of  Mr.  Douglas  and  defeated 
him  for  Congress.  Mr.  Lincoln  being  thus  early  a 
fully  equipped  politician,  knew  the  tricks  of  such  a 
profession  thoroughly,  no  doubt,  and  served  his 
partner  with  consummate  skill,  it  being  a  congenial 
part  of  the  business  with  him.  Mr.  Newton  in  his 
work  on  Lincoln  and  Herndon  makes  the  following 
remark  on  this  feature :  "A  kind  of  industry  con- 
genial to  him,  which  was,  no  doubt,  one  reason 
why  Stuart  chose  him  as  managing  clerk.  He  knew 
how  to  play  the  game  of  politics  according  to  the 
rules  thereof,  and  was  not  over  nice  as  to  the  meth- 
od when  no  moral  principle  was  involved." 

The1  next  year  also,  1838,  he  was  re-elected  to 
the  Assembly,  in  which  campaign  he  made  a  com- 
plete canvass  of  the  entire  country.  And  in  1839, 
Mr.  Stuart  was  re-elected  to  Congress.  Consequent- 
ly, Lincoln  was  a  very  busy  man,  having  almost  the 
entire  business  of  the  firm  including  both  law  and 
politics.  In  April,  1841,  the  firm  of  Stuart  and 
Lincoln  was  dissolved,  for  some  reason  unknown  to 
the  writer.  Before  the  year  was  out,  however,  a 
new  firm  was  formed  with  Mr.  Lincoln  as  Junior 
partner  under  the  name  of  Logan  and  Lincoln,  the 
junior  partner  being  taken  in  by  Stephen  T.  Logan 


54  Abraham  Lincoln 

formerly  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  State,  a 
man  who  has  borne  the  reputation  of  being  the  ablest 
jurist  Springfield  ever  had.  The  two  men  were  in 
strange  contrast  with  each  other.  He  was  person- 
ally known  to  the  writer.  He  was  a  small,  thin, 
dried-up  looking  man,  thin  in  the  face  and  with  red  - 
dish  features.  His  hair  usually  worn  long,  was  of 
light  color,  and  his  voice  was  sharp  and  shrill,  yet 
not  disagreeable.  The  men  could  scarcely  have 
been  more  opposite  in  looks  than  in  the  character 
and  natural  quality  of  their  make-up.  Both  men 
were  careless  in  the  attention  they  paid  to  dress, 
which  varied  in  the  two,  and  both  gentlemen  were 
rather  pleasant  and  agreeable,  but  unlike  in  their 
manners. 

By  profession,  Logan  was  a  hair-splitter  in  points 
of  the  law  as  notorious  in  local  fame  as  was  the 
junior  partner  as  a  rail-splitter,  whose  fame  as  such 
later  spread  near  and  far.  Logan  loved  money  and 
made  it.  Lincoln  did  not  care  for  it,  only  for  its  use, 
neither  did  he  make  much  of  it.  Logan  cared  for 
the  law.  Lincoln  did  not,  only  as  a  means  to  an 
end — his  living.  There  is  no  need  to  carry  this  con- 
trast further,  nor  to  describe  the  personal  appear- 
ance of  Lincoln.  His  height,  his  gait,  his  manner 
of  life,  and  the  like,  have  all  been  held  up  to  view, 
and  everything  like  this  has  become  known.  Many 
at  Springfield  wondered  why  Logan  took  him  up, — 
they  were  so  different.  In  two  points  they  agreed : 
?)oth  were  Whigs,  and  both  were  anxious  for  politi- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  55 

cal  position.  The  niceties  in  points  of  the  law  as  a 
ruling  characteristic  of  Logan  was  good  schooling 
for  Lincoln.  It  was  during  the  term  of  his  partner- 
ship of  Logan  and  Lincoln  that  Mr.  Herndon  took 
up  the  study  of  law  in  their  office,  being  induced  to 
do  so  through  the  instrumentality  of  Lincoln  whose 
firm  friend  and  future  partner  he  became. 

But  the  partnership  of  Logan  and  Lincoln  was 
not  of  long  duration,  scarcely  two  and  a  half  years. 
There  had  been  a  little  friction  between  them  ow- 
ing to  their  political  aspirations  for  Congressional 
honors,  and  two  strong  natures  like  theirs  could  not 
very  well  be  yoked  permanently  together.  Never- 
theless, their  disagreement  did  not  preclude  a  friend- 
ly rivalry,  and  they  remained  friends.  This  was 
demonstrated  more  than  ten  years  afterward,  in 
1854,  when  Lincoln  was  the  political  aspirant  for 
the  United  States  senatorship  against  General 
Shields.  This  year  he  and  Judge  Logan  were  elec- 
ted to  the  legislature  to  represent  Sangamon  coun- 
ty ;  but  Lincoln  resigned  from  the  Legislature  in 
order  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  senatorship. 
He  would  have  won  the  place  but  for  the  insurgent 
Democrats  who  persisted  in  voting  for  Judge  Trum- 
bull, a  sturdy  Democrat  on  every  issue,  save  the 
slavery  issue.  The  excitement  was  intense,  and 
after  the  tenth  ballot,  rather  than  see  a  man  re-elected 
who  had  voted  for  the  Nebraska  bill  in  the  United 
States  Senate  as  General  Shields  had  done,  Lincoln 
admonished  his  friends  to  withdraw  his  name,  and 


56  Abraham  Lincoln 

vote  for  Lyman  Trumbull,  which  they  did,  and 
Trumbull  was  elected.  It  is  said  of  Judge  Logan 
that  he  actually  shed  tears  as  he  transferred  his  vote. 
There  are  more  times  than  one,  twice,  or  thrice,  that 
Lincoln  stood  aside  to  give  place  for  others,  though 
not  always  when  it  was  a  question  for  political  pre- 
ferment. This  illustrates  his  true  character,  and 
vindicates  him  from  any  charge  of  selfishness,  ex- 
hibiting his  devotion  to  the  cause  for  which  he 
stood  in  the  righteousness  of  principle. 

We  come  back  to  the  firm  of  Logan  and  Lincoln. 
It  was  dissolved  more  on  account  of  financial  rea- 
sons than  perhaps  any  thing  else.  It  was  said  that 
Lincoln  was  desirous  of  setting  up  for  himself,  and 
when  the  opportunity  offered  of  entering  into  a 
partnership  with  himself  as  senior  member  of  a 
firm)  and  with  William  H.  Herndon  as  junior  mem- 
ber, a  young  man  in  whom  he  had  every  confidence, 
he  made  a  proposition  to  the  latter,  which  was  ac- 
cepted. So,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  September,  1843, 
the  firm  of  Logan  and  Lincoln  was  dissolved,  and 
the  new  firm  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  was  establish- 
ed, which  endured  for  more  than  twenty-one  years, 
or  until  terminated  by  the  assassination  and  death 
of  the  President. 

Mr.  Herndon,  notwithstanding -all  that  has  been 
said  against  him  by  some  of  the  biographical  writers 
of  the  life  of  Lincoln,  and  their  names  are  legion, 
all  the  "strange  mixtures  and  complexities,"  his 
"impetuosity  and  impulsiveness,"  his  "uncouth  and 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  57 

rough"  exterior,  was  an  abler  man,  more  generous 
towards  the  memory  of  his  friend  and  senior  part- 
ner, than  he  got  credit  for.  One  does  not  inspire  a 
great  mind  like  Lincoln  without  having  some  merit- 
He  was  always  honest,  sincere  and  loyal,  and 
Lincoln  never  had  cause  to  regret  the  business  ar- 
rangement he  that  day  went  into.  Lincoln  took  him 
in  on  equal  terms  with  himself  financially,  the  gains 
of  their  earnings  being  divided  equally  between  them. 
Years  afterward,  in  speaking  of  this  day's  arrange- 
ment, Mr.  Herndon  had  this  to  say :  "It  has  always 
been  a  matter  of  pride  with  me  that  during  our  part- 
nership, continuing  on  until  it  was  dissolved  by  the 
bullet  of  the  assassin  Booth,  we  never  had  any  per- 
sonal controversy  or  disagreement.  I  never  stood 
in  his  way  for  public  honors  or  office,  and  I  believe 
we  understood  each  other  perfectly.  In  after  years, 
when  he  became  more  prominent,  and  our  practice 
grew  to  respectable  proportions,  other  ambitious 
practitioners  undertook  to  supplant  me  in  the  part- 
nership. One  of  the  latter  more  zealous  than  wise, 
charged  that  I  was  in  a  certain  way  weakening  the 
influence  of  the  firm.  I  am  flattered  to  know  that 
Lincoln  turned  on  the  last  named  individual  with 
the  retort,  "I  know  my  own  business,  I  reckon.  I 
know  Billy  Herndon  better  than  anybody,  and  even 
if  what  you  say  of  him  is  true,  I  intend  to  stick  to 
him.''  That  retort  sounds  like  Lincoln,  and  is  char- 
acteristic of  what  we  know  of  him,  and  worthy  of 
the  man. 


58  Abraham  Lincoln 

We  have  followed  Mr.  Lincoln  loosely  and  in  a 
few  rapid  statements  concerning  his  public  career 
from  the  time  he  first  began  to  come  into  public 
notice,  attracting  considerable  attention  in  his  own 
state  as  a  legislator  until  the  time  of  his  member- 
ship in  Congress,  when  he  returned  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term,  having  been  duly  elected  to  serve 
his  congressional  district  in  1846,  against  Rev. 
Peter  Cartwright.  I  feel  that  I  must  here  make  a 
break  in  this  narrative  to  give  a  bit  of  information 
which  will  be  of  interest  to  many  Methodists.  I  did 
not  know,  until  I  began  to  gather  materials  and 
make  notes  for  these  memoirs,  that  Peter  Cartwright 
ever  had  any  political  aspirations,  and  I  do  not 
think  many  of  the  denomination  of  Methodists  have 
known  this.  In  1846,  he  was  the  Democratic  candi- 
date for  Congress  against  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the 
Third  Congressional  District,  and  waxed  warm  in 
his  oratorical  fervor,  but  was  defeated  by  a  sweep- 
ing victory  by  his  opponent.  I  have  in  my  collection 
of  books,  two  of  his  books,  his  autobiography,  and 
his  "Fifty  Years  a  Presiding  Elder,"  and  in  neither 
of  these  does  he  say  anything  about  this  matter.  I 
have  already  stated  in  these  reminiscences  that  my 
father's  family  moved  into  Sangamon  county  from 
Ohio,  and  that  the  first  winter  we  lived  in  the  little 
town  of  Mechanicsburg.  This  was  in  the  year  of 
1846,  the  same  year  that  Peter  Cartwright  was 
making  a  race  against  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  was 
beaten.     He  was  our  presiding  elder  that  year,  and 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  59 

stayed  'with  my  fathers  family  while  there  on  his 
official  relation  to  the  church. 

I  return  to  my  narrative  to  speak  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
In  the  period  embraced  between  the  year  1846,  and 
the  year  1854,  we  do  not  hear  very  much  about  him, 
after  his  term  in  Congress  had  expired.  It  was  a 
period  out  of  which  he  emerged  in  great  brilliancy 
and  power,  a  great  formative  period,  and  of  mar- 
velous transformation.  It  was  during  this  period 
that  he  was  given  back  to  his  own  country  folk  in 
his  home  at  Springfield  and  Sangamon  county, 
where  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  the  practice 
of  law,  following  the  rounds  of  the  circuit  rider 
after  Judge  Davis  in  his  judical  circuit.  The  ground 
work  of  the  foundation  of  his  greatness  and  popu- 
larity, however,  was  laid  in  a  period  anterior  to  this 
in  which  figured  quite  a  number  of  self-made  men 
among  whom  even  Douglas  himself  appeared.  This 
period  we  refer  to  was  in  the  early  days  in  Spring- 
field. They  called  each  other  "boys,"  then.  Doug- 
las pleasantly  alludes  to  some  of  the  scenes  which 
took  place  in  these  early  days,  in  his  speech  at 
Ottawa,  but  got  them  mixed  up  a  little  with  those 
of  earlier  date.  He  says  of  Lincoln,  "He  could 
beat  any  of  the  boys  wrestling,  or  running  a  foot- 
race, pitching  quoits,  or  flipping  a  copper."  In  the 
matter  of  running  a  footrace,  Douglas  would  not 
have  been  a  match  for  Lincoln's  long  legs  pitched 
against  the  short   Yankee  jumpers  of  the   former. 


60  Abraham  Lincoln 

Douglas  forgot  to  speak  of  the  other  "boys"  even 
a  little  later  in  life,  in  a  game  of  "Town  Ball"'  in 
which  Lincoln  and  some  of  the  other  lesser  boys, 
in  a  mix-up  together,  when  law  business  was  a  little 
dull,  and  they  needed  a  little  exercise.  I  know  men 
now  living  at  this  period  of  writing,  who  used  to 
watch  them  play  together,  yet  who  were  too  small 
to  take  part  in  the  games. 

Then,  too,  the  young  folk  used  to  form  them- 
selves into  literary  and  debating  clubs  for  self-im- 
provement in  which  many  took  part.  Those  whose 
names  have  appeared  in  these  chapters  already,  used 
to  be  among  the  number  who  were  invited  to  make 
addresses  before  these  societies,  notably,  Lincoln, 
Shields,  and  others.  The  Young  Men's  Lyceum, 
and  the  Mechanics'  Union  were  two  of  these  soci- 
eties, and  to  their  public  meetings  all  were  invited. 
I  have  before  me  some  published  extracts  from  the 
minutes  of  the  Mechanics'  Union  from  the  day  of 
its  organization,  August  14th,  1839,  to  the  day  of 
its  close,  January  4th,  1848.  The  extracts  of  which 
the  writer  avails  himself,  were  made  from  the  min- 
utes of  the  secretary's  book  which  was  quite  worn, 
by  Mr.  T.  W.  S.  Kidd  and  published  by  him  in  his 
Springfield  Morning  Monitor,  January  6th,  1898. 
He  published  a  partial  list  of  the  members  of  the 
society,  and  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
society  whose  name  appears  on  the*  minutes,  was 
George  R.  Weber,  printer  who  is  one  of  the  three 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  61 

persons  concerning  which  these  pages  are  written. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  name  appears  twice  on  these  minutes. 
In  the  minutes  of  March  5th,  1840,  this  record 
appears :  "The  charter  incorporating  the  Union  was 
then  presented  and  read.  George  R.  Weber  moved 
that  the  Union  present  Mr.  A.  Lincoln  a  vote  of 
thanks  for  the  passage  of  the  act  of  incorporation." 
Again  in  the  minutes  of  July  8th,  1841,  there  is  the 
following  record :  "On  motion  of  W.  D.  Herndon, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  Esq.,  was  elected  as  the  individual 
to  address  the  Union  on  the  fourth  Thursday  of  the 
present  month,  and  on  motion,  a  committee  of  three 
was  appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  Lincoln  and  solicit 
the  favor  of  an  address  from  him  on  that  evening." 
No  subsequent  page  of  the  minutes,  says  Mr.  Kidd, 
shows  that  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  performed  the  service 
asked.  General  James  Shields  is  another  gentle- 
man who  was  asked  to  deliver  an  address  before  the 
society,  and  who  favored  them  with  its  delivery  in 
the  Methodist  church  on  the  evening  of  November 
8th,  1841.  A  copy  of  his  address  was  obtained  and 
published  in  both  the  city  papers.  One  other  ad- 
dress was  given  before  the  society, — that  of  Col. 
Zebriskey —  and  was  also  published  in  the  same 
papers.  The  record  says  that  the  Young  Men's 
Lyceum  people  were  invited  to  attend  this  lecture. 
It  is  thus  that  the  young  people  as  well  as  the  older 
people  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  at- 
tend and  encourage  such  exercises  as  a  means  of 


62  Abraham  Lincoln 

self-improvement.  It  is  certain  that  Lincoln  en- 
couraged such  efforts,  and  that  he  gave  addresses 
before  these  meetings  of  the  young  people  one  of 
which — that  before  the  Young  Men's  Lyceum — 
brought  him  into  favorable  repute  in  the  confines  of 
his  own  home,  the  subject  being  suggested  by  the 
burning  of  a  negro  by  a  mob  in  St.  Louis. 

But  these  days  were  not  the  earliest  of  such  ef- 
forts. Lincoln,  Logan,  Baker,  Douglas,  and  others, 
all  of  whom  were  self-made  men,  were  accustomed 
to  meet  together,  and  discuss  the  questions  of  the 
day,  and  especially  political  questions.  All  the  above 
named  persons  are  especially  worthy  of  being  held 
up  to  view  as  illustrious  examples  in  their  endeav- 
ors to  rise.  Every  one  of  these  became  eminent 
in  their  day  in  their  field  of  operation  as  lawyers,  or 
as  politicians,  holding  positions  in  the  state  or  na- 
tional government.  These  men  were  possessed, 
naturally,  of  good  minds  which  needed  cultivation, 
and  these  meetings  around  at  the  shops  and  stores 
afforded  the  means  of  self -improvement  as  they 
paired  off  taking  opposite  sides  and  vied  with  each 
other  as  disputants.  This  exercise  in  the  things  of 
the  mind  rendered  them  practical,  rough  and  ready, 
so  that  in  after  life  when  called  upon  to  express 
themselves  on  the  various  subjects  before  them, 
they  always  had  something  to  say  without  any 
fear  of  a  break-down. 

I  will  give  an  example  of  one  or  two   of    these 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  63 

meetings  to  fill  in  here,  and  which  will  be  of  interest 
to  many,  possibly,  and  which  have  been  related  by 
Mr.  Herndon,  who  was  an  eye  witness.  He  was  the 
best  informed  person  on  the  early  young-man  life 
of  Lincoln,  without  doubt,  and  is  one  who  has  fur- 
nished the  biographers  with  more  of  the  early  life 
of  the  man  than  any  other  person.  Many  of  these 
meetings  which  took  place  in  the  early  history  of 
Springfield,  were  at  Mr.  Joshua  Speed's  store  it 
being  a  frequent  lounging  place  for  the  young  men 
who  gathered  around  the  comfortable  fireplace,  and 
were  made  welcome  by  the  proprietor  of  the  estab- 
lishment in  these  early  rural  days,  seated  around  the 
fire  upon  boxes,  benches,  and  nail  kegs  covered  with 
boards  or  shoe  leather.  It  was  a  place  of  good 
schooling  for  them,  and  made  so,  doubtless,  by  this 
bachelor  merchant  at  this  period  of  his  life.  Here 
they  liked  to  gather  and  have  their  little  discussions, 
read  prepared  papers,  and  do  their  little  literary 
acrobatic  feats. 

One  evening,  eight  or  ten  of  these  young  men 
gathered  thus  about  the  fireplace,  and  their  discus- 
sion turned  upon  politics.  As  it  proceeded,  it  grew 
warm  with  excitement,  Democrats  against  the  Whigs. 
Finally,  in  the  midst  of  this  state  of  excitement, 
Douglas  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  challenged  the 
Whigs  to  debate  the  question  or  questions  between 
them,  alleging  that  the  store  was  not  a  fit  place  to 
talk  politics.     The  challenge  was  accepted,  and  the 


64  Abraham  Lincoln 

discussion  was  arranged  to  take  place  in  the  old 
Presbyterian  church.  Accordingly,  they  paired  off, 
four  on  a  side  in  the  following  order :  Democrats, 
Douglas,  J.  C.  Calhoun,  Josiah  Lamborn,  and  Jesse 
Thomas ;  Whigs,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  E.  D.  Baker, 
O.  H.  Browning,  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  One  even- 
ing was  allowed  to  each  disputant,  and  it  consumed 
more  than  a  week  to  complete  the  discussion.  Other 
discussions  followed  similar  to  this,  one  of  which 
was  by  Lincoln  and  Calhoun  on  the  tariff  question 
in  the  same  manner,  and  which  was  held  in  the 
court  house.  In  view  of  what  all  these  men  became, 
this  seems  strange. 

I  must  not  forget  to  state  one  characteristic,  at 
least,  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  before  closing  this  chapter. 
He  was  a  good  story-teller.  I  remember  well  my 
father  speaking  of  him  as  such.  While  out  from 
Ohio  in  Illinois  in  1846,  viewing  the  country  pre- 
vious to  moving  there  the  autumn  of  that  year,  he 
had  occasion  to  go  in  a  stage  coach  or  in  a  hack  from 
Springfield  to  Taylorville,  which  was  the  county 
seat  of  Christian  county.  The  vehicle  was  filled 
with  lawyers  mainly,  going  there  to  attend  court. 
It  was  a  jolly  crowd,  among  whom,  it  appears,  were 
Judge  Linder,  then  a  young  man,  Judge  Logan, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  others.  It  was  a  warm  day 
in  June,  and  they  sweltered  with  the  heat  as  they 
rode  along  the  way  through  the  brushy  woods  of 
the  south  fork  of  the  Sangamon  River.     But  they 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  65 

entertained  themselves  the  most  of  the  time  in  a 
roar  of  laughter  in  a  hearty,  go-lucky  manner. 
Lincoln  was  the  best  of  the  lot,  enriching  his  jokes 
and  his  stories  with  the  pithness  of  his  puns  and 
the  embellishments  of  his  anecdotes. 

But  there  was  also  the  sober  side  to  some  of  his 
stories.  Mr.  Ed.  Thayer,  Springfield's  old  bachelor 
dry-goods  merchant,  used  to  tell  a  story  coming 
from  Lincoln,  which  he  said  was  a  true  one.  It  con- 
cerned the  occasion  of  the  birth  of  one  of  his  chil- 
dren, I  think  the  oldest.  Mr.  Thayer,  who  was 
familiar  with  the  conditions  of  the  story,  relates 
that  he  met  Mr.  Lincoln  who  was  on  his  way  to 
church  one  Sunday  morning,  and  they  talked  to- 
gether. Mr.  Lincoln  said :  "Well,  the  affair  is  all 
over,  and  both  mother  and  child  are  doing  well. 
I  may  consider  myself  fortunate  in  this  matter 
Only  think  of  it.  If  the  child  had  been  born  with  a 
long  leg  like  mine  and  a  short  one  like  Mary's,  what 
an  awful  thing  that  would  have  been !  But  every- 
thing is  all  right,  and  I  am  fortunate  that  nothing 
like  that  happened. " 


CHAPTER  IV 

More  About  Lincoln 


S  A  JURIST,  it  should  be  said,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  not  learned,  but  he  was  very  honorable 
and  able,  nevertheless ;  a  very  safe  lawyer  in 
whom  to  confide  for  legal  advice,  and  to  whom  to 
entrust  a  cause  to  be  conducted  through  all  the 
stages  of  a  process  at  law.  It  seems  to  me  as  I  re- 
member him  and  his  legal  associates,  there  were 
more  conscientious  scruples  as  to  what  cases  they 
undertook  to  defend  in  the  courts  then  than  now. 
They  were  loathe  to  take  up  the  cases  of  clients  who 
had  committed  very  flagrant  crimes,  and  where  it 
seemed  very  plainly  the  duty  of  lawyers,  for  the 
good  of  society,  was  to  endeavor  to  allow  the  law 
to  take  its  course.  There  was  little  resort  to  "sharp 
practice"  in  order  to  obstruct  the  energy  of  the  law 
from  having  its  full  force  with  incorrigible  culprits. 
Money  consideration  with  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  a 
motive  strong  enough  to  induce  him  to  violate  his 
ideas  of  intergrity  where  moral  principle  was  con- 
cerned. These  were  the  days  before  attornev's 
66 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  67 

fees  became  so  fabulously  large  and  court  expenses 
so  great  as  at  present  through  long  drawn  out  pro- 
cesses, postponements,  changes  of  venue,  errors,  etc., 
until  the  patience  of  the  people  was  worn  out  and 
the  cases  dropped  out,  owing  to  the  many  obstruc- 
tions permitted  by  the  judges.  It  was  still  before 
the  days  of  specialists  who  are  resourceful  in  tech- 
nicalities and  loop  holes  of  the  law,  which  are  now 
oftentimes  allowed  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice. 

What  else  shall  we  say  of  him  as  a  lawyer?  Not 
much,  for  we  have  not  long  to  praise  him  without 
extending  our  notes  beyond  a  reasonable  limit.  A 
few  characteristics  more  will  suffice,  and  these  from 
his  associate  friends  who  were  members  of  the  bar. 
What  do  they  say  of  him  ?  This :  He  was  very 
clear  in  stating  a  case  before  a  jury,  was  searching 
in  his  examination  of  witnesses,  and  courteous  un- 
less he  detected  evidence  of  untruthfulness,  when 
he  would  become  almost  merciless.  He  was  force- 
ful and  sagacious  in  his  pleadings  before  a  jury, 
quick  to  take  the  different  phases  in  his  mind,  and 
trusted  his  memory  in  the  matter  of  evidence,  de- 
veloping his  case  from  facts,  and  when  it  turned 
upon  moral  issues,  he  is  said  to  have  been  "  one  of 
the  most  persuasive  advocates  at  the  bar."  It  was 
this  moral  sentiment,  a  characteristic  feature  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  long  pent  up  within  him,  striving  for  out- 
ward vent  and  expression,  which  though  ordinarily 
a  mild  man,  broke  out  in  irresistable  fury  against 


68  Abraham  Lincoln 

Douglas  in  the  period  from  1854  and  1856  to  1858, 
occasioned  first  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, then  by  the  attempt  to  foist  the  Nebraska 
Bill  upon  the  people  west  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
and  finally  by  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States. 

This  brings  us  to  a  very  near  approach  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's religious  convictions.  The  moral  element  in  his 
make-up  was  deep-seated,  and  this  came  very 
naturally  from  very  early  training  and  the  early 
example  of  his  parents,  as  well  as  other  early  re- 
ligious environments.  We  shall  presently  give  the 
proof  of  these  statements  in  the  effect  upon  him  in 
his  maturer  years  when  the  crucial  tests  came  upon 
him.  How  beautifully  true  is  the  admonition  of  the 
Word  which  was  written  long,  long  ago :  "Train  up 
a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go;  and  when  he  is  old, 
he  will  not  depart  from  it."  This  is  true  in  almost 
every  case  which  has  come  under  the  writer's  ob- 
servation, and  he  has  lived  long  enough  in  life's  ex- 
periences to  take  knowledge  of  many  facts.  The 
rule  may  not  be  invariable,  but  it  is  true  in  most 
cases.  If  he  were  required  to  instance  an  example, 
he  does  not  remember  a  case  to  which  he  would 
rather  refer  than  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
writer  had  thought  to  pass  over  silently  that  fea- 
ture of  his  record  at  his  home  in  Springfield,  but 
so  various  have  been  the  religious  views  expressed 
about  him,  he  has  thought  to  say  something  upon 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  69 

it.  Whatever  else  may  be  said  about  Mr.  Lincoln 
on  the  matter  of  his  religious  belief,  up  to  the  time 
he  left  Springfield  to  go  to  Washington  to  become 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  this  may  be  said : 
He  was  not  a  deeply  religious  man  in  the  sense  of 
piety.  I  use  the  latter  word  in  the  good  sense  of  the 
term,  sanctity,  holiness,  deeply  religious  devotion 
to  God,  and  not  in  any  loose  sense,  as  patriotism, 
love  of  country,  respect  for  law  and  order,  or  ordi- 
nary morals  such  as  any  good  citizen  may  have  be- 
fore touching  the  realm  of  the  religious  in  a  spirit- 
ual sense.  The  Springfield  folk  who  knew  him  best, 
never  have  reported  him  as  having  a  mind  of  this 
order.  He  never  united  with  any  church  up  to  the 
time  he  left  Springfield.  While  he  attended  church 
services,  and  contributed  to  the  support  of  the  church, 
and  to  other  good  causes,  he  was  not  known  to  be 
deeply  religious,  not  after  the  New  Testament  sense, 
certainly,  and  not  certainly  an  orthodox  member  of 
any  Christian  body.  One  may  have  a  rich  natural 
endowment  of  the  moral  qualities  of  mind,  as  did 
Mr.  Lincoln,  but  fall  far  below  the  standard  held 
up  to  view  in  the  Sacred  Book,  as  most  men  do,  even 
those  who  have  won  a  very  high  place  in  the  esti- 
mation of  mankind. 

Mr.  Lincoln  has  been  a  man  difficult  to  explain, 
whether  in  regard  to  his  mental,  his  moral,  or  his 
religious  make-up.  It  is  needless  to  endeavor  to  do 
this,  but  it  is  needful  just  to  let  him  stand  as  he  was, 


70  Abraham  Lincoln 

with  all  his  contradictions,  if  we  consider  his  entire 
record  with  his  good  and  inestimable  qualities,  or 
without,  a  man  very  much  by  himself,  natural 
throughout,  raised  up,  possibly,  of  God,  to  fill  in  his 
proper  place  at  a  time  when  such  as  he  was  needed. 
Far  be  it  from  the  writer  to  drop  a  word  here  about 
him  which  in  any  way  could  cast  a  shadow  about 
{lis  fair  memory;  rather  would  he  stand  in  the  re- 
lation of  friendliness  to  his  good  name,  and  as  one 
who  loves  his  memory.  But  the  truth  needs  to  be 
told  even  about  him,  however,  much  we  may  ven- 
erate his  memory,  and  however  much  we  may  be 
impressed  in  sympathy  on  account  of  the  strange 
freak  of  his  taking  off  by  the  bullet  of  the  assassin. 
To  tell  the  truth  about  him  can  do  his  memory  no 
harm,  and  the  truth  is  that  his  record  has  some  in- 
consistencies, one  part  of  it  truly  at  variance  with 
another  part.  The  record  of  his  early  manhood  be- 
fore he  came  to  Springfield,  reveals  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  deist  if  not  a  fatalist,  and  opposed  to  mir- 
acles, and  consequently,  lacking  in  an  orthodox 
faith.  In  the  campaign  of  Peter  Cartwright  against 
Abraham  Lincoln,  in  1846,  the  former  assailed  the 
latter  for  his  infidelity,  alleging  that  he  had  written 
a  paper  attacking  the  Christian  religion  after  the 
manner  of  Thomas  Paine.  This  was  in  the  period 
of  his  life  during  his  stay  at  New  Salem.  I  quote 
the  note  for  my  authority  for  this  statement  given 
by  Rev.  Joseph  Fort  Newton  in  his  work  on  Lincoln 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  71 

and  Herndon :  "Such  an  essay  was  written  by 
Lincoln  in  his  early  days,  while  under  the  spell  of 
Volney,  Paine,  and  other  thinkers  of  that  school, 
in  which  he  argued  that  the  Bible  was  not  inspired 
and  that  Jesus  was  not  the  Son  of  God.  He  carried 
it  to  the  village  store,  where  it  was  read  and  freely 
discussed;  but  his  employer,  Samuel  Hill,  snatched 
the  manuscript  out  of  his  hands  and  put  it  into  the 
stove." — Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  149-151.  It  is  fitting  to  add  here  what 
is  reported  of  him  later  in  life:  "A  change  came 
over  him,  and  that,  after  this,  he  was  no  more  the 
same."  Later  still  in  life,  he  became  subject  to  a 
greater  change  of  belief,  adopting  many  of  the  say- 
ings of  the  Saviour,  and  made  use  of  some  of  them 
in  his  political  discussion  which  could  not  be  shaken. 
That  one  from'  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  is  a  notable  in- 
stance of  one  which  he  used  against  Douglas  in  his 
Springfield  speech,  June  17th,  1858,  relative  to  a 
"house  if  divided  against  itself,  it  cannot  stand," 
applying  it  to  the  nonperpetuity  of  our  government 
existing  half  slave  and  half  free.  The  passage  from 
the  Scriptures  in  the  use  he  made  of  it,  has  a  place 
in  his  record  which  we  shall  give  later  on  when  we 
come  to  its  historical  setting.  Here  is  what  his 
biographers  have  given,  which  he  said  about  him- 
self concerning  his  religious  belief  at  this  period'. 
"I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  church,  because 
I  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent,  with- 


72  Abraham  Lincoln 

out  mental  reservation,  to  the  long  complicated 
statements  of  Christian  doctrine  which  characterize 
their  Articles  of  Belief  and  confessions  of  faith. 
When  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar,  as  the 
sole  qualification  of  membership,  the  Saviour's  con- 
densed statement  of  the  substance  of  the  Gospel, 
Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself/ 
that  church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart,  soul  and 
mind." 

I  think  that  change  became  his  final  experience. 
If,  after  the  death  of  his  son,  Willie,  he  came  into 
this  experience,  in  consequence,  that  death,  possibly, 
became  a  stepping  stone  into  a  better  and  brighter 
life.  If  so,  it  was  the  smighting  stroke  of  the  Spirit 
which  broke  the  fetters  of  that  power  which  had 
bound  him  so  long  in  its  slavery,  and  made  him  a 
free  man.  It  was  the  worthy  and  merciful  accom- 
paniment when,  in  signing  his  name  to  the  docu- 
ment of  emancipation  proclamation,  he  broke  the 
shackles  of  millions  in  slavery,  and  by  a  stroke  of 
his  pen  set  them  free.  It  is  well  if  that  experience 
could  not  come  to  him  earlier  that  it  came  later. 

I  have  already  spoken  in  this  chapter  of  the  deep- 
seated  moral  principle  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  assert- 
ed it  to  be  owing  to  the  early  religious  training  of  his 
parents  in  his  early  life.  I  am  in  possession  of  an 
old  record  which  clears  up  much  of  the  mystery  of 
the   early   religious   training   of   Abraham   Lincoln. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  73 

which  has  remained  for  more  than  half  a  century. 
It  is  a  record,  or  I  should  say  a  transcription  of  an 
old  record  made  by  Mr.  McGregor  in  the  finding 
of  two  church  record  books  which  were  more  than 
one  hundred  years  old,  and  which  were  hid  away 
in  the  archives  of  Little  Pigeon  Baptist  Church 
near  Lincoln  City,  Indiana.  Mr.  McGregor,  who 
was  assistant  Attorney  General  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  has  given  to  appreciative  America  sub- 
stantial evidence  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  reared 
by  his  parents  in  the  simple  faith  of  the  "hard  shell" 
Baptist  Church.  There  is  no  record,  however,  of 
his  affiliation  with  any  church  denomination.  This 
record  proves  conclusively  that  the  Lincoln  family 
were  Baptists.  Here  is  what  Mr.  McGregor  says : 
"The  parents  of  Abraham  Lincoln  deserve  a  fairer 
estimate  than  has  been  given  them  by  most  of  the 
biographers  of  Lincoln;  and  the  story  as  told  by  the 
records  that  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  archives  of 
Little  Pigeon  Church,  near  Lincoln  City,  Spender 
[  ?]  County,  Ind.,  of  the  devotion  paid  by  the  parents 
of  Lincoln  to  Him  who  guided  the  lad  of  Pigeon 
Creek  in  the  hour  of  the  Nation's  travail,  goes  far  to 
give  their  true  estimate.  In  fact,  they  were  well-to- 
do  pioneers  of  their  day;  of  sturdy  ancestral  stock, 
and  owned  a  farm,  domestic  animals,  tools,  and  a 
family  Bible ;  neighborly,  sacrificing  and  active 
church-going  members. 

"Pigeon  Creek  Church  was  founded  on  June  8th, 


74  Abraham  Lincoln 

1816,  the  year  that  Thomas  Lincoln  and  his  family 
moved  from  Kentucky  and  settled  on  Pigeon  Creek, 
in  what  was  then  Warrick  county,  Indiana  Terri- 
tory. It  was  then,  as  now,  the  chief  church  in  that 
vicinity.  When  the  meeting  house  was  built  its  site 
was  selected  about  a  mile  west  of  Thomas  Lincoln's 
home,  the  church  building  today  occupying  practi- 
cally the  same  place.  When  Lincoln's  mother  died 
she  was  buried  between  their  home  and  the  church, 
the  graveyard  not  having  been  at  that  time  started 
at  the  church,  but  when  Lincoln's  sister,  Sarah 
Grigsby,  died  in  1828,  she  was  buried  at  the  church 
burying  ground,  where  her  grave  is  yet  to  be  seen, 
marked  by  a  rough  stone. 

This  church,  with  its  continuous  existence  since 
1816,  has  only  two  books  containing  its  records  and 
minutes;  the  first  covering  the  period  from  1816 
to  1840.  It  is  in  this  book  that  we  find  Abraham's 
father  and  step-mother  and  sister  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Hardshell  Baptist  Church  of  Pigeon 
Creek,  and  this  book  with  its  deer  skin  cover,  the 
hair  still  remaining,  not  only  reveals  in  its  crude  his- 
toric way  the  true  religion  of  Lincoln's  parents, 
but  gives  us  the  best  insight  yet  found  to  his  own 
religious  views. 

"Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  were  mar- 
ried by  a  Methodist  minister  by  the  name  of  Jesse 
Head,  but  shortly  afterward  they  were  united  with 
one  of  the  churches  of  the  Baptist  Licking  Locust 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  75 

Association  of  Regular  Baptist  churches  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  when  Nancy  Lincoln  died  in  Indiana, 
Abraham,  by  his  own  efforts,  had  their  Kentucky 
Pastor,  Elder  David  Elkins,  come  to  their  wilder- 
ness home  and  preach  his  mothers  funeral. 

"After  Thomas  Lincoln  had  married  Sally  Bush 
Johnson,  he  sent  back  to  his  Kentucky  church  and 
obtained  his  letter  of  fellowship,  and  the  minutes 
on  June  1,  1823,  show  he  united  with  the  Pigeon 
Creek  church  by  this  letter,  his  wife  by  experience. 
From  that  date  until  they  moved  to  Illinois  in  1830, 
their  names  appear  frequently  in  the  minutes  of  the 
church  proceedings,  Thomas  being  one  of  the  pillars 
of  the  church,  acting  as  moderator,  on  committees 
to  investigate  the  conduct  of  brethren  and  sisters, 
and  messenger  to  association,  bearing  the  letter  of 
Pigeon  Creek  to  her  sister  churches." 

I  give  here  the  historic  minutes  which  Mr.  Mc- 
Gregor furnishes,  the  wording  and  spelling  just  as 
I  find  in  his  transcription,  which,  as  far  as  he  has 
given,  must  be  like  that  in  the  original : 
"June  7th,  1823. 

The  church  met  and  after  prayer  proceeded  to  busi- 
ness. 
First — Inquires  for  fellowship. 
Second — Invited  members    of    sister    churches    to 

seats  with  us. 
Third — Opened  a  dore  for  the  reception  of  mem- 
bers. 


76  Abraham  Lincoln 

Fourth — Received  Brother   Thomas     Linkhon     by 

letter  *   *   * 
Seventh — Received  Brother  John  Wire  by  relation 
and   Sister   Linkhon   and  Thomas   Carter 
by  experience. 

"Thomas  Lincoln  was  not  in  such  poor  circum- 
stances but  that  he  always  donated  to  the  needs  of 
the  church,"  said  Mr.  McGregor  in  offering  the 
copy  of  an  agreement  to  build  a  new  chimney  on 
the  meeting  house. 

"We  the  undersigned  do  agree  one  with  another 
to  pay  the  several  somes  next  our  names  in  produce 
this  Fall  ;to  be  delivered  betwixt  the  first  and  20th 
of  December,  the  produce,  as  follows,  corn,  wheat, 
whiskey,  soft  linen,  wool  or  any  other  article  or 
material  to  do  the  work  with,  the  produce  will  be 
delivered  at  Wm.  Barkers  in  good  mercantile  pro- 
duce." 

Signed  with  other  names  is : 

Thomas  Lincoln,  white  corn  manufactured — 
pounds — 24.  "Thus,"  continued  Mr.  McGregor, 
"we  have  revealed  to  us  the  religion  of  Abraham 
Lincoln's  parents,  his  sister,  Sarah,  and  of  himself. 
He  was  raised  in  the  simple  hard  shelled  faith,  which 
in  after  years  never  left  him. 

"We  have  no  record  of  Thomas  Lincoln  or  wife 
ever  uniting  with  any  church  after  they  moved  to 
Illinois  in  1830." 

The  writer  does  not  design  saying  anything  fur- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  77 

ther  in  this  place  on  the  phases  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  re- 
ligious views.  In  an  appendix  to  this  treatise  will 
be  found  other  materials  and  a  deeper  and  more 
extended  research  on  the  question  of  the  moral 
aspects  of  his  religion  such  as  were  known  to  the 
citizens  of  Springfield,  especially  his  most  familiar 
friends.  So  far,  only  a  general  statement  has  been 
given  of  this  feature  of  his  mpral  make-up  in  this 
and  preceding  chapters.  But  curiosity  may  be 
far  reaching,  and  may  be  difficult  to  satisfy.  To 
such  he  would  invite  to  the  perusal  of  the  notes  in 
the  appendix  for  the  proofs  of  the  author's  state- 
ments made  in  his  estimation  of  this  great  man. 
But  Mr.  Lincoln  had  a  variety  of  traits  in  the  moral 
status  of  his  character  which  is  somewhat  difficult 
to  understand;  yet  here  is  one  element  which  is 
pleasing  to  contemplate,  and  with  which  we  desire 
to  close  this  chapter.  He  loved  that  which  was 
natural,  which  was  pure  and  good,  and  which  had 
within  it  the  cheer  of  Joy  and  Hope.  There  was 
something  within  him,  after  all  that  may  be  said, 
which  responded  to  the  needs  of  the  soul,  and  he 
looked  beyond  himself  in  its  appeal  to  be  satisfied 
and  be  brought  into  contentment.  As  proof  and 
illustration  of  what  is  here  meant,  I  give  a  little  inci- 
dent of  his  life  related  by  Mr.  Herndon.  This  in- 
cident will  be  found  as  told  in  the  Appleton  edition 
of  the  Life  of  Lincoln  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  1906, 
Vol.  I,  pp  321,  322.    It  is  in  regard  to  the  "poem" 


78  Abraham  Lincoln 

or  song  that  Lincoln  "liked."     I  give  the  incident 
and  song  as  there  found.     Mr.  Herndon  Says : 

"He  once  told  me  of  a  song  a  young  lady  had 
sung  in  his  hearing  at  a  time  when  he  was  laboring 
under  some  dejection  of  spirits.  The  lines  struck 
his  fancy,  and  although  he  did  not  know  the  sing- 
er— having  heard  her  from  the  side  walk  as  he 
passed  her  house — he  sent  her  a  request  to  write 
the  lines  out  for  him.  Within  a  day  or  two  he  came 
into  the  office,  carrying  in  his  hand  a  delicately  per- 
fumed envelope  which  bore  the  address,  "Mr  Lin- 
coln— Present,"  in  an  unmistakable  female  hand. 
In  it  written  on  gilt-edged  paper,  were  the  lines  of 
the  song.  The  plaintive  strain  of  the  piece  and  its 
melancholy  sentiment  struck  a  responsive  chord  in 
a  heart  already  filled  with  gloom  and  sorrow. 
Though  ill-adapted  to  dissipate  one's  depression, 
something  about  it  charmed  Lincoln,  and  he  read 
and  re-read  it  with  increasing  relish.  I  had  forgot- 
ten the  circumstance  until  recently,  when,  in  going 
over  some  old  papers  and  letters  turned  over  to  me 
by  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  ran  across  the  manuscript,  and 
the  incident  was  brought  vividly  to  my  mind.  The 
envelope,  still  retaining  a  faint  reminder  of  the  per- 
fumed scent  given  it  thirty  years  before,  bore  ^the 
laconic  endorsement,  "Poem — I  like  this,"  in  the 
hand  writing  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Unfortunately  no 
name  accompanied  the  manuscript,  and  unless  the 
lady  on  seeing  this  chooses  to  make  herself  known, 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  79 

we  shall  probably  not  learn  who  the  singer  was. 
The  composition  is  headed,  'The  Enquiry."  I  leave 
to  my  musical  friends  to  render  it  into  song.  The 
following  are  the  lines : 


"Tell  me,  ye  Winged  Winds, 

That  round  my  pathway  roar, 

Do  ye  not  know  some  spot 

Where  mortals  weep  no  more; 

Some  lone  and  pleasant  vale 

Some  valley  in  the  West, 

Where,  free  from  toil  and  pain 

The  weary  soul  may  rest? 

The  loud  wind  dwindled  to  a  whisper  low 

And  sighed  for  pity  as  it  answered,  no. 


"Tell  me,  thou  Mighty  Deep, 

Whose  billows  round  me  play, 

Know'st  thou  some  favored  spot, 

Some  island  far  away, 

Where  weary  man  may  find 

The  bliss  for  which  he  sighs; 

Where  sorrow  never  lives 

And  friendship  never  dies? 

The  loud  waves  rolling  in  perpetual  flow 

Stopped  for  awhile  and  sighed  to   answer,   no. 


"And  thou,  serenest  Moon 

That  with  such  holy  face 

Dost  look  upon  the  Earth 

Asleep  in  Nights'  embrace  — 

Tell  me,  in  all  thy  round 

Hast  thou  not  seen  some  spot 

Where  miserable  man 

Might  find  a  happier  lot? 

Behind  a  cloud  the  moon  withdrew  in  woe, 

And  a  voice  sweet  but  sad  responded,  no. 


80  Abraham  Lincoln 

"Tell  me,  my  secret  Soul, 
Oh,  tell  me,  Hope  and  Faith, 
Is  there  no  resting  place 
From  sorrow,  sin  and  death? 
Is  there  no  happy  spot 
Where  mortal  may  be  blessed, 
Where  Grief  may  find  a  balm 
And  weariness  a  rest? 

Faith,  Hope,  and  Love,  best  boon  to  mortals  given, 
Waved   their   bright  wings  and  whispered, 
'Yes;  in  Heaven.'" 

In  a  foot  note  beneath  the  poem,  Mr.  Herndon 
says:  "Persons  familiar  with  literature  will  recog- 
nize this  as  a  poem  written  by  Charles  Mackay,  an 
English  writer  who  represented  a  London  news- 
paper in  the  United  States  during  the  Rebellion  as 
its  war  correspondent.  It  was  set  to  music  as  a 
chant,  and  as  such  was  frequently  rendered  in  public 
by  the  famous  Hutchinson  family  of  singers.  I 
doubt  if  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  knew  who  wrote  it." 


CHAPTER  V 

Early  Days  in  Illinois 
Lincoln  and  Douglas 

BN  THE  foregoing  chapter  that  point  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  life  was  reached  when  it  becomes 
necessary  to  speak  of  him  as  a  changed  man — 
not  alone  in  the  sense  of  his  religious  sentiment 
which  had  received  a  change, — but  as  being  thor- 
oughly aroused  by  what  he  saw  going  on  in  the 
political  world  around  him.  It  is  a  good  place  to 
begin  to  speak  of  him,  farther,  in  his  political  life 
in  the  period  reaching  from  1850  to  1854  or  later 
on,  and  when  he  had  reached  the  essential  age  of  the 
full  vigor  of  his  manhood.  It  was  a  short  period, 
but  very  fruitful  in  many  respects,  and  when  the 
excitement  in  Illinois  was  beginning  to  be  intense. 

We  have  spoken  rather  incidentally  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, rehearsing  a  few  facts  in  the  great  formative 
period  of  his  life,  viewing  him  getting  ready  for 
action.  Here  we  have  him  when,  like  a  chrysalis, 
he  has  burst  the  shell,  and  broken  away  a  fully  grown 
man,  thoroughly  aroused  from  a  state  of  inaction 

81 


82  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  one  of  great  brilliancy  and  power,  which  made 
itself  felt.  The  questions  of  that  day  rendered  it 
so.  There  were  the  questions  first  of  temperance 
and  "know-nothingism,"  which  absorbed  interest 
for  a  time — Mr.  Lincoln  canvassing  and  making 
speeches  in  favor  of  the  former  topic  in  his  own 
county  and  in  those  which  were  contiguous;  but 
they  were  tame  enough  in  comparison  with  what 
followed  later  on — the  question  of  slavery,  the 
questions  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  its  re- 
peal, the  Fugitive  slave  law,  and  the  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision,— all  of  which  agitated  the  public  mind  and 
set  the  country  all  on  fire. 

The  period  of  1850  to  1852  opened  with  the 
giants  wrestling  with  the  great  problem  which 
threatened  to  rend  the  nation  asunder;  the  voices 
of  union  and  disunion  "clashed  and  echoed  far  and 
wide"  over  the  nation.  At  length  the  trouble  was 
fixed  up,  and  the  country  was  thought  to  be  secure  in 
its  peace.  It  was  by  the  enactment  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  It  was  the  great  triumphant  but 
short-lived  work  of  Henry  Clay.  Also  the  domestic 
slave  trade  was  prohibited  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, which  lent  encouragement  to  the  peace  of  the 
country.  The  old  measure  which  was  in  force  still 
for  the  benefit  of  the  pro-slavery  men,  it  was 
thought  would  now  compel  the  country  to  main- 
tain peace,  as  it  was  thought  none  would  dare  inter- 
fere in  the  affairs  of  the  law — the    Fugitive    Slave 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  83 

law,  whose  majesty  all  would  respect,  since  it  was 
the  law.  Altogether,  it  was  accounted  a  great  stroke 
of  statesmanship  which  would  forever  settle  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Union  and  the  peace  of  the  land  with 
the  institution  of  slavery  shut  up  within  it.  But 
not  so.  The  Fugitive  slave  law  was  "  cruel,  merci- 
less and  stringent."*  It  aroused  the  abolition  senti- 
ment of  the  North,  and  many  felt  that  although  a 
law  of  the  land,  they  could  not  respect  it  nor  obey 
it.  So  that  by  the  time  of  the  campaign  of  1852, 
in  which  there  were  the  two  old  parties  still  in  the 
field,  the  Whigs  and  the  Democrats,  lined  up  against 
each  other,  the  former  under  General  Scott  and  the 
latter  under  Franklin  Pierce,  they  both  felt  them- 
selves muzzled  by  the  Slave  power,  and  courting 
the  Southern  vote,  while  insisting  in  their  platforms 
that  the  compact  of  1850  was  final,  and  that  the 
Fugitive  Slave  law  must  be  obeyed.  Such  condi- 
tions could  not  be  permanent. 

It  was  about  this  period,  also,  that  Douglas  came 
into  great  brilliancy  and  power.  He  was  an  able 
debater,  taking  front  rank  in  the  Senate,  and  finally 
became  the  great  champion.  This  he  maintained 
from  1850  to  1860,  when  the  question  of  slavery 
came  up  for  consideration.  Douglas  himself  seem- 
ed not  to  have  had  any  conscientious  scruples  as  to 
the  moral  wrong  of  slavery.  He  was  ambitious  for 
his  own  popularity,  and  to  this  end  bent  all  his 
energies,   insisting  upon  the  institution  of   slavery 

*     Joseph    Fort   Newton   in  his   work,    Lincoln   and   Herndon. 


84  Abraham  Lincoln 

because  it  was  the  law  of  the  land,  which  he  had 
been  instrumental  in  making,  or  at  least  was  re- 
sponsible for  helping  to  bring  around  existing  con- 
ditions in  regard  to  it.  Douglas  did  not  himself 
originate  the  measure  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  yet  he  was  responsible  more  than  any 
man  for  the  undoing  of  the  compact,  and  thereby 
became  the  instrument  which  precipitated  the  Civil 
War.  Knowingly  or  unknowingly,  it  was  an 
iniquitous  piece  of  business,  and  when  once  into  it, 
he  was  by  force  of  being  leader,  drawn  still  deeper 
into  it,  and  carried  whither  he  would  not.  He  saw, 
perhaps,  his  fatal  error,  but  only  when  it  was  too 
late  for  remedy,  and  his  political  doom  was  sealed; 
but  being  an  adroit  man,  he  tried  to  justify  himself 
by  an  appeal  to  his  "popular  sovereignty"  scheme 
which  in  the  end  utterly  failed.  When  put  to  the 
test  in  Kansas,  popular  sovereignty  proved  only 
"squatter  sovereignty."  There  was  a  rush  across 
the  border  line  of  Missouri  into  Kansas  into  tents, 
improvised  sheds,  and  hovels — anywhere  that  the 
pro-slavery  men  could  "squat"  themselves  in  order 
to  defeat  the  actual  free-loving,  bonafide  citizens 
knocking  for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  free 
state,  now  alas !  with  Congress  no  longer  any  power 
to  interfere  and  prevent  it  from  becoming  a  slave 
state.  The  memory  of  these  times  anJ  events  are 
still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  a  few  people  yet  living. 

The  history  of  the  entrance  of  Kansas  into  the 


"Early  Days  in  Illinois  85 

Union  is  largely  a  history  of  "rump  legislatures," 
"fraudulent  constitutions,"  "outrages  at  the  poles," 
and  tragedies  from  which  even  Douglas  himself 
revolted.  It  is  not  a  history  of  these  events  that  is 
here  intended  to  be  written,  but  to  give  enough  of 
the  happenings  to  get  the  matter  of  those  times 
fairly  well  before  the  mind  as  the  causes  of  a  rude 
awakening  'throughout  the  North  against  Pro- 
slavery  sentiments  and  pro-slavery  schemes.  When 
tne  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  was  introduced  by  tne 
insane  slave-holding  interests  of  a  few  men  of  the 
South,  not  the  best  men  among  them,  the  violence 
between  the  North  and  the  South  became  intense ; 
it  threatened  to  disrupt  the  two  sections  of  the 
country  even  at  that  time.  It  was  the  "irrepressible 
conflict  destined  to  rage  with  increasing  force," 
says  Mr.  Newton  energetically,  "until  slavery  was 
destroyed  in  the  flames  kindled  by  its  own  folly. "* 
Illinois  was  stirred  more  than  any  State  in  the  North, 
perhaps,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  the  home  of 
Senator  Douglas  who  was  the  champion  leader  of 
the  movement.  Then  and  there  began  to  form  c 
movement  in  order  to  resist  the  attempt  of  the 
South  to  seize  and  enslave  Kansas,  and  a  new 
party  of  men  arose  known  as  the  "Free-soil  party," 
"Anti-Nebraska  men,"  and  the  like?  but  in  other 
states,  they  were  known  from  the  start  as  Republi 
cans.  In  Illinois,  there  were  many  discordant  ele- 
ments.    Men  there  did  not  like  to  be  called  Aboli- 

*      In  his  book,    Lincoln   and   Herndon. 


86  Abraham  Lincoln 

tionists,  as  it  was  a  term  much  in  disfavor,  Lincoln 
was  one  of  these.  He  was  not  an  abolitionist,  but 
he  had  a  hatred  of  slavery  and  of  the  ' 'popular 
sovereignty"  dogma  of  Douglas.  He  resolved  to 
oppose  it  with  all  his  might.  In  his  hours  of  seclu- 
sion he  had  studied  all  the  issues  of  his  day,  which 
affected  his  country,  and  from  every  angle  and  view- 
point until  he  was  thoroughly  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject. When  he  emerged  from  his  period  of  seclu- 
sion, he  was  a  changed  man,  completely  equipped, 
and  he  launched  forth  against  Douglas  his  great 
argument  in  "tongues  and  flashes  of  fire."*  In  the 
start,  Lincoln  argued  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Compromise,  but  when  the  Dred  Scott  decision  was 
announced,  every  forlorn  hope  was  swept  aside, 
and  he  measured  arms  with  Judge  Douglas  in  every 
legal,  political  and  moral  aspects  of  those  issues. 

His  good  work  began  in  his  home  town  of 
Springfield.  He  started  out  from  the  first  with  the 
great  thought  burning  in  his  heart,  " .  This  nation 
cannot  exist  half  slave  and  half  free,"  and  from  this 
basis  he  never  changed  nor  deviated.  Although 
after  this  start  he  did  remain  quiet  for  a  time,  with 
his  feelings  pent  up  within  him  often  striving  to 
break  out  in  irresistible  utterance.  But,  as  he  him- 
self said,  he  bit  his  lips,  stifled  his  feelings,  while 
he  jotted  down  his  notes,  "stowing  them  away  in 
his  hat,"  according  to  Mr.  Herndon,  some  of  which 

*         In  his   book,    Lincoln   and   Herndon. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  87 

have  been  preserved,  "showing  with  what  keen  and 
merciless  logic  he  went  to  the  bottom  of  things.*' 

Douglas  was  very  popular  in  his  home  state  of 
Illinois,  and  rushed  all  his  own  campaigns  and 
others  in  which  he  was  interested,  with  a  furor. 
In  the  campaign  of  1854,  he  stumped  the  state  for 
General  Shields,  whose  opponent  was  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  he  found  the  latter  thoroughly  prepared  for  a 
rencounter.  In  the  early  part  of  the  Fall  of  that 
year,  Douglas  was  at  Springfield  attending  the  State 
Fair,  and  he  made  a  great  speech  in  the  State- 
house.  The  two  men  locked  horns.  It  was  the  be- 
ginning of  a  great  discussion  which  lasted  for  five 
years,  and  terminating  in  their  Joint  Discussion  in 
1858.  On  that  occasion  Douglas  spoke  in  the  fore- 
noon, consuming  nearly  all  that  length  of  time  be- 
fore a  large  audience.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
his  great  argument  in  defense  of  the  Nebraska  Bill, 
and  the  gist  of  his  argument  for  that  bill  lay  in  the 
fallacy  of  his  assumption  that  property  in  slaves 
did  not  vary  from  other  kinds  of  property.  Douglas, 
ordinarily  was  a  fluent  speaker,  and  he  delivered  his 
address  with  much  warmth,  energy  and  charm, 
carrying  many  of  his  audience  to  his  side  of  the 
question  by  his  resort  to  the  "Popular  Sovereignty" 
scheme,  and  he  succeeded  in  swaying  them  into  a 
belief  in  its  plausibility. 

The  next  day  in  the  afternoon  in  the  same  place, 
Lincoln  addressed  a  reply    to    Douglas    before    a 


88  Abraham  Lincoln 

large  audience,  also,  for  above  the  space  of  three 
hours.  This  address  has  been  pronounced  a  master- 
piece of  work,  put  together  in  such  manner  as  to  be 
impregnable,  carrying  away  the  people  as  by  storm. 
He  had  been  silent  a  long  time,  but  now  he  had 
spoken.  People  who  lived  in  Springfield  were  proud 
of  their  distinguished  citizen.  They  felt  that  a  new 
star  had  indeed  arisen  in  the  political  firmament. 
He  dealt  with  the  question  of  slavery  unlike  many 
abolitionists  in  not  depicting  its  cruelties  and  hor- 
rors, but  confined  himself  to  its  legal  aspects,  not 
forgetting  its  moral  issues;  and  when  it  came  to  the 
dogma  of  Douglas,  he  drove  his  shafts  home, 
piercing  it  through  and  through,  turning  it  over  from 
every  side  until  nothing  remained.  Douglas  was 
amazed.  He  sat  only  a  short  distance  in  front  of 
the  speaker  while  the  latter  dealt  with  his  entire 
speech  delivered  the  previous  day  in  a  most  com- 
plete and  merciless  exposure.  It  is  said  that  Doug- 
las felt  most  keenly  his  epigrams,  occasionally  in- 
terrupting him  only  to  receive  his  sharp  retorts  with 
a  readiness  that  surprised  and  delighted  his  auditors. 
Lincoln  gained  a  complete  victory  and  was  greeted 
by  thunders  of  applause.  This  first  speech  was 
never  reported,  but  numerous  comments  were  made 
upon  it.  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  the  com- 
ments of  Horace  White  upon  this  speech.  His  de- 
livery, gesticulations,  and  manner  of  oratory  would 
not  have  been  preserved  to  future  generations  but 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  89 

for  him,  although  it  may  be  he  has  somewhat  over- 
drawn Mr.  Lincoln  in  some  of  his  features  of 
oratory.  Here  follows  what  he  said :  "He  began  in 
a  slow  and  hesitating  manner,  but  without  any  mis- 
takes of  language,  dates  or  facts.  It  was  evident 
that  he  had  mastered  his  subject,  that  he  knew  what 
he  was  going  to  say,  and  that  he  knew  he  was  right. 
He  had  a  thin,  high-pitched,  falsetto  voice  of  much 
carrying  power,  and  could  be  heard  a  long  dis- 
tance in  spite  of  the  bustle  and  tumult  of  the  crowd. 
He  had  the  accent  and  pronunciation  peculiar  to 
his  native  state,  Kentucky.  Gradually  he  warmed 
up  with  his  subject,  his  angularity  disappeared,  and 
he  passed  into  that  attitude  of  unconscious  majesty 
that  is  so  conspicuous  in  Saint-Gauden's  statue  at  the 
entrance  to  Lincoln  Park  in  Chicago.  Progressing 
with  his  theme,  his  words  began  to  come  faster 
and  his  face  to  light  up  with  the  rays  of  genius  and 
his  body  to  move  in  unison  with  his  thoughts.  His 
gestures  were  made  with  his  body  and  head  rather 
than  with  his  arms.  They  were  the  natural  expres- 
sion of  the  man,  and  so  perfectly  adapted  to  what 
he  was  saying  that  anything  different  would  have 
been  quite  inconceivable.  Sometimes  his  manner 
was  very  impassioned,  and  he  seemed  transfigured 
with  his  subject.  Perspiration  would  stream  down 
his  face,  and  each  particular  hair  would  stand  on 
end.  In  such  transfigured  moments  as  these,  he  was 
the  type  of  the  Hebrew  prophet. 


90  Abraham  Lincoln 

"I  heard  the  whole  speech.  It  was  superior  to 
Webster's  reply  to  Hayne,  because  its  theme  is 
loftier  and  its  scope  wider.  I  think  also  that  Lin- 
coln's speech  is  the  superior  of  the  two  as  an  exam- 
ple of  English  style.  It  lacks  something  of  the 
smooth,  comprehensive  flow  which  takes  the  in- 
tellect captive  in  the  Websterian  diction,  but  it 
excels  in  simplicity,  directness,  and  lucidity  which 
appeal  both  to  the  intellect  and  the  heart.  The 
speech  made  so  profound  an  impression  on  me  that 
I  feel  under  its  spell  to  this  day." 

About  two  weeks  after  this  encounter  at  Spring- 
field, they  had  another  hitch  at  Peoria.  It  was  a 
joint  discussion  this  time,  I  do  not  know  if  it  were 
a  pre-arranged  one.  Douglas  spoke  for  more  than 
three  hours  in  presenting  his  isde  of  the  question, 
keeping  to  the  line  of  his  address  at  Springfield.  He 
acquitted  himself  well  from  his  standpoint,  and 
when  he  was  through,  it  was  supper  time.  Lincoln 
admonished  his  hearers  to  repair  to  their  lunch 
baskets  as  his  address  would  not  be  less  lengthy 
than  that  of  Senator  Douglas,  announcing  at  the 
same  time  that  Douglas  was  to  reply.  Lincoln's 
reply  was  also  very  similar  to  his  reply  at  Spring- 
field, only  it  is  said  to  have  been  in  an  improved 
form,  compactness,  and  rigour  of  style.  If  so,  it 
was  a  very  impassioned  address.  It  was  not  report- 
ed, nor  yet  a  third  address  delivered  in  Blooming- 
ton   in    1856,   although  all  these  were  the   master 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  91 

pieces  of  his  life  from  a  political  stand  point  of 
view.  This  third  address  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  of  later  on.  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  regarded  his 
Peoria  speech  as  the  ablest  and  best  of  his  life,  and 
wrote  it  down  in  its  entirety  at  his  leisure,  and  pub- 
lished it  in  the  Illinois  State  Journal  at  Springfield. 
From  the  files  of  this  newspaper  it,  doubtless,  may 
be  read.  Someone  has  copied  it  or  parts  of  it,  pub- 
lished it  and.  given  it  to|  the  people  and  to  literature, 
from  which  source  it  might  have  been  lost  had  not 
Mr.  Lincoln  himself  taken  the  pains  to  give  it  forth 
and  preserve  it.  It  is  the  simplest,  clearest,  ablest  and 
best  putting  of  the  subject  on  which  it  treats  of  any- 
thing heard  or  read  during  that  lengthy  period  of 
excitement.  It  was  on  the  subject  of  the  restoration 
or  the  reenactment  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
which  never  came. 

As  I  have  given  a  description  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
manner  of  oratory  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  White  who 
was  a  competent  judge  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  it 
may  be  that  I  can  serve  my  readers  in  no  better 
purpose  than  to  give  a  part  of  the  Peoria  speech 
that  those  who  have  never  seen  it,  if  any  such  there 
be,  but  who  would  be  interested  in  reading  it,  might 
be  able  to  possess  it.  Here  it  is :  "Before  proceed- 
ing, let  me  say  I  think  I  have  no  prejudice  against 
the  Southern  people.  They  are  just  what  we  would 
be  in  their  situation.  If  slavery  did  not  now  exist 
among  them,  they  would  not  introduce  it.     If  it  did 


92  Abraham  Lincoln 

now  exist  among  us,  we  should  not  instantly  give  it 
up.  This  I  believe  of  the  masses  North  and  South. 
Doubtless  there  are  individuals  on  both  sides  who 
would  not  hold  slaves  under  any  circumstances,  and 
others  who  would  gladly  introduce  slavery  anew  if 
it  were  out  of  existence.  We  know  that  some 
Southern  men  do  free  their  slaves,  go  North  and 
become  tip-top  Abolitionists,  while  some  Northern 
ones  go  south  and  become  slave  masters. 

"When  the  Southerners  tell  us  that  they  are  no 
more  responsible  for  the  origin  of  slavery  than  we 
are,  I  acknowledge  the  fact.  When  it  is  said  that 
the  institution  exists  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  to 
get  rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  I  can  under- 
stand and  appreciate  the  same.  I  surely  will  not 
blame  them  for  not  doing  what  I  should  not  know 
how  to  do  my  self.  //  all  earthly  power  were  given 
me  I  should  not  knozv  what  to  do  with  the  existing 
institution.  My  first  impulse  would  be  to  free  all 
slaves  and  send  them  to  Liberia,  to  their  native 
land.  But  a  moment's  reflection  would  convince 
me  that  whatever  high  hope  (as  I  think  there  is) 
there  may  be  in  this,  in  the  long  run,  its  sudden 
execution  is  impossible.  *  *  But  all  this,  in  my 
judgment,  furnishes  no  more  excuse  for  permitting 
slavery  to  go  into  our  new  territory  than  it  would 
for  reviving  the  African  slave  trade  by  law. 

Equal  justice  to  the  South,  it  is  said,  requires  us 
to  consent  to  the  extension  of  slavery  to  the  new 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  93 

Territories.  That  is  to  say,  inasmuch  as  you  do 
not  object  to  my  taking  my  hog  to  Nebraska,  there- 
fore I  must  not  object  to  you  taking  your 
slave.  Now,  I  admit  that  is  perfectly  logical,  if  there 
is  no  difference  between  hogs  and  negroes.  But 
while  you  require  me  to  deny  the  humanity  of  the 
negro,  I  wish  to  ask  whether  you  of  the  South, 
yourselves,  have  ever  been  willing  to  do  as  much? 
The  great  majority,  South  as  well  as  North,  have 
human  sympathies,  of  which  they  can  no  more 
divest  themselves  than  they  can  of  their  sensibility 
to  physical  pain.  These  sympathies  in  the  bosoms 
of  the  Southern  people  manifest,  in  many  ways, 
their  sense  of  the  wrong  of  slavery,  and  their  con- 
sciousness that,  after  all,  there  is  humanity  in  the 
negro  *  *  And  now  why  will  you  ask  us  to  deny 
the  humanity  of  the  negro,  and  estimate  him  only 
the  equal  of  the  hog? 

The  doctrine  of  self-government  is  right, — abso- 
lutely and  eternally  right, — but  it  has  no  just  appre- 
ciation as  here  attempted  *  *  *  But  if  the  negro  is 
man,  is  it  not  to  that  extent  a  total  destruction  of 
self-government  to  say  that  he  too  shall  not  govern 
himself?  When  the  white  man  governs  himself 
that  is  self-government;  but  when  he  governs  him- 
self and  also  another  man,  that  is  more  than  self- 
government — that  is  despotism  *  *  *  No  man  is 
good  enough  to  govern  another  man  without  that 
other  mans  consent.     I  say  this  is  the  leading  prin- 


94  Abraham  Lincoln 

ciple,  the  sheet-anchor,  of  American  Republicanism. 
But  Nebraska  is  urged  as  a  great  Union  saving 
measure.,  Well,  I  too  go  for  saving  the  Union. 
Much  as  I  hate  slavery,  I  would  consent  to  the  ex- 
tension of  it  rather  than  see  the  Union  dissolved, 
just  as  I  would  consent  to  any  great  evil  to  avoid 
a  greater  one.  But  when  I  go  to  Union-saving,  I 
must  believe,  at  least,  that  the  means  I  employ  must 
have  some  adaptation  to  the  end.  To  my  mind, 
Nebraska  has  no  such  adaptation.  It  hath  no  relish 
of  salvation  in  it.  It  is  an  aggravation,  rather,  of 
the  only  thing  which  ever  endangers  the  Union. 
When  it  came  upon  us,  all  was  peace  and  quiet.  The 
nation  was  looking  to  the  forming  of  new  bonds  of 
union,  and  a  long  course  of  peace  and  prosperity 
seemed  to  lie  before  us. 

"In  this  state  of  affairs  the  Genius  of  Discord 
himself  could  hardly  have  invented  a  way  of  again 
setting  us  by  the  ears  but  by  turning  back  and  de- 
stroying the  peace  measures  of  the  past.  The  coun- 
cils of  the  Genius  seem  to  have  prevailed.  The 
Missouri  Compromise  was  repealed;  and  here  we 
are  in  the  midst  of  a  new  slavery  agitation,  such, 
I  think,  as  we  have  never  seen  before.  *  *  *  The 
Missouri  Compromise  ought  to  be  restored.  For 
the  peace  of  the  Union,  it  ought  to  be  restored.  If 
by  any  means  we  omit  this,  what  follows?  Slavery 
may  or  may  not  be  established  in  Nebraska.  But 
whether  it  be  or  not,  we  shall  have  repudiated — dis- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  95 

carded  from  the  counsels  of  the  nation —  the  spirit 
of  compromise;  for  who,  after  this,  will  ever  trust 
in  a  national  compromise  ?  The  spirit  of  'mutual 
concession — »  that  spirit  which  first  gave  us  the 
Constitution,  and  which  has  thrice  saved  the  Union — 
we  shall  have  strangled  and  cast  from  us  forever." 

"And  what  shall  we  have  in  lieu  of  it?  The 
South  flushed  with  triumph  and  tempted  to  excess; 
the  North  betrayed  as  they  believe,  brooding  on 
wrong  and  burning  for  revenge.  One  side  will  pro- 
voke, the  other  resent.  One  will  taunt,  the  other 
defy :  one  aggresses,  the  other  retaliates.  Already  a 
few  in  the  North  defy  all  constitutional  restraints, 
resist  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and 
menance  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States 
where  it  exists.  Already  a  few  in  the  South  claim 
the  constitutional  right  to  take  and  hold  slaves  in  the 
free  states,  demand  the  revival  of  the  slave  trade. 
But  restore  the  Compromise,  what  then  ?  We  here- 
by restore  the  national  faith,  the  national  confidence 
the  national  feeling  of  brotherhood.  We  thereby 
reinstate  the  spirit  of  concession  and  compromise, 
that  spirit  which  never  failed  us  in  past  perils,  and 
which  may  be  safely  trusted  for  all  the  future. 

The  South  ought  to  join  in  this.  The  peace  of 
the  nation  is  as  dear  to  them  as  to  us.  The  memories 
of  the  past  and  hopes  of  the  future,  they  share  as 
largely  as  we.  It  would  be  on  their  part  a  great  act 
— great  in  its  spirit  and  great  in  its  effect.     It  would 


96  Abraham  Lincoln 

be  worth  to  the  nation  a  hundred  years  purchase 
of  peace  and  prosperity.  And  what  of  sacrifice 
would  they  make  ?  They  only  surrender  to  us  what 
they  gave  us  for  a  consideration  long,  long  ago ; 
what  they  asked  for,  struggled  or  cared  for;  what 
has  been  thrust  upon  them,  not  less  to  their  astonish- 
ment than  to  ours  *  *  *  *  Our  republican  robe 
is  soiled  and  trailed  in  the  dust.  Let  us  purify  it. 
Let  us  turn  and  wash  it  white  in  the  spirit,  if  not 
in  the  blood  of  the  Revolution.  Let  us  turn  slavery 
from  its  claims  of  ''moral  right''  back  upon  its  exist- 
ing legal  right  of  necessity.  Let  us  return  it  to 
the  position  our  fathers  gave  it,  and  there  let  it 
rest  in  peace.  *  *  *  Let  North  and  South — let  all 
Americans — let  all  lovers  of  liberty  everywhere 
join  in  the  great  work  and  good  work.  If  we  do  this 
we  shall  not  only  have  saved  the  Union,  but  we 
shall  have  so  saved  it  as  to  make  and  keep  it  forever 
worthy  of  the  saving."* 

Again  may  it  be  said  as  it  was  said  of  the  Spring- 
field speech  that  Douglas  was  amazed — so  amazed 
at  the  "skill  and  power  of  his  opponent"  that  it  is 
reported  he  made,  flatteringly,  a  proposition  to 
Lincoln  like  this :  "You  are  giving  me  more  trouble 
in  debate  than  all  the  United  States  Senate;  let  us 
both  stop  and  go  home."  The  biographers  of 
Lincoln  have  reported  that  Lincoln  agreed  to  the 
proposition  and  kept  his  agreement,  but  Douglas 
did  not. 

Quoted    from    Joseph    Fort    Newton's    Lincoln    and    Herndon. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  97 

In  this  same  Peoria  speech  of  Lincoln  do  these 
words  occur:  "Let  us  turn  and  wash  it  (meaning 
our  republican  robe)  white  in  the  spirit,  if  not  in 
the  blood  of  the  Revolution."  It  was  a  "deep-toned 
prophetic  forecast  of  blood  and  violence"  which  was 
coming.  Lincoln  and  many  others  in  the  North  as 
well  in  the  South  were  watching  the  struggle  ap- 
proaching, and  knew  that  it  was  coming  on  and 
soon. 

The  campaign  of  1856  was  a  remarkable  one.  I 
remember  it  as  if  it  had  been  only  yesterday.  Politi- 
cal clubs  were  formed  at  all  the  little  towns  through- 
out the  State.  Those  of  us  who  lived  there  at  that 
time  had  never  known  the  like  before.  Public 
speaking  was  held  before  these  nearly  every  week 
in  the  daytime  and  after  night.  Men  went  to  these 
in  buggies,  wagons,  and  on  horseback.  There  were 
three  political  parties  in  the  field  at  the  same  time 
all  vieing  with  one  another  in  single  speeches  or  in 
joint  discussions.  Two  of  these  parties  were  new 
parties,  made  out  of  the  old  Whig  party  with  addi- 
tions to  either  of  them  from  the  old  line  Demo- 
cratic party.  In  Illinois  these  were  the  American 
(Know — Nothing)  Party,  and  the  other  was  the  Re- 
publican party,  made  up  by  the  fusion  of  the  Free- 
soilers,  the  Anti-Nebraska  men,  and  the  Abolitionists. 
As  we  are  here  concerned  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the 
part  he  took  in  bringing  around  this  fusion,  a  word 
about  it  will  not  be  out  of  order,  especially  as  it 


98  Abraham  Lincoln 

brought  out  one  of  the  greatest  speeches  he  ever 
made,  and  which  had  more  effect  than  any  other 
thing,  possibly,  in  bringing  about  his  nomination 
at  the  Chicago  Convention,  because  it  brought  him 
prominently  before  the  people. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  of  1856,  a  con- 
vention was  held  in  Bloomington  for  the  purpose  of 
uniting  into  one  party  the  Anti-Nebraska  men,  the 
Free-soilers,  and  the  Abolitionists,  and  others  as 
chose  to  come  out  of  the  old  Democratic  party  like 
some  who  attended  the  convention,  namely,  John 
M.  Palmer,  Wentworth,  Allen,  Judd,  and  Koerner. 
Indeed  it  began  with  Hon.  John  M.  Palmer  in  the 
chair.  It  was  a  stormy  convention,  but  Lincoln 
and  a  few  others  of  his  friends  succeeded  in  quiet- 
ing and  uniting  it.  After  this,  the  business  before 
the  convention  was  the  nomination  of  a  State  Ticket, 
and  Wm.  H.  Bissell  and  Francis  Hoffman  were 
chosen  for  candidates  respectively  for  Governor 
and  Lieutenant  Governor.  For  the  balance  of  the 
State  ticket,  it  was  filled  by  the  nominating  Com- 
mittee of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  chairman.  The 
business  of  the  convention  being  finished,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  set  upon  by  many  who  called  wildly  for  a 
speech  and  he  replied  by  a  vivid  and  intensely  pas- 
sionate address,  the  most  vigorous  address  of  his 
life,  according  to  Mr.  Herndon,  Lincoln's  law  part- 
ner, who  was  there  and  heard  it  in  its  entirety. 
There  is  no  authentic  report  of  this  speech.     Mr. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  99 

Herndon  undertook  to  make  notes  of  it,  but  aban- 
doned the  undertaking  in  the  intensity  of  his  interest. 
It  was  said  by  many  of  the  friends  who  heard  it 
however,  to  the  the  greatest  of  all  his  speeches,  ex- 
celling any  he  made  in  the  joint  discussion  with 
Douglas.  It  was  the  explosion  of  the  pent  up  fires 
within  him  now  slumbering  for  a  long  time,  due  to 
the  Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  still,  the 
agitation  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  the  Dred 
Scott  case  drawing  on  apace.  The  wild  and  excit- 
ing scenes  going  on  in  the  country,  the  little  war 
going  on  in  the  State  of  Kansas,  the  imprisonment 
of  her  Governor,  the  caning  of  Sumner  in  the 
United  States  senate, — all  conspired  to  render  the 
times  exciting,  and  Lincoln  was  full  to  the  brim. 
Of  all  the  reports  of  this  speech  I  have  read,  Mr. 
Herndon's  is  the  fullest  and  best.  I  give  here  his 
report  as  I  find  it.  Mr.  Herndon  says :  "I  have 
heard  or  read  all  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  speeches,  and  I 
give  it  as  my  opinion  that  the  Bloomington  speech 
was  the  grand  effort  of  his  life.  Heretofore  he  had 
simply  argued  the  slavery  question  on  grounds  of 
policy — the  statesman's  grounds  *  *  *  Now  he  was 
newly  baptised,  *  *  *  the  smothered  fire  broke  out ; 
his  eyes  glowed  with  inspiration,  he  felt  justice;  his 
heart  was  alive,  and  he  stood  before  the  throne  of 
the  eternal  Right.  *  *  *  It  was  logic ;  it  was  pathos ; 
it  was  enthusiasm;  it  was  justice,  equity,  truth  and 
right  set  ablaze  by  the  divine  fires  of  a  soul  mad- 


100  Abraham  Lincoln 

dened  by  wrong ;  it  was  hard,  heavy,  knotted,  gnarl- 
ed, backed  with  wrath.  I  attempted  for  about 
fifteen  minutes  as  usual  with  me  to  take  notes,  but 
at  the  end  of  that  time  I  threw  my  pen  and  paper 
away  and  lived  only  in  the  inspiration  of  the  hour. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  six  feet  and  four  inches  usually, 
at  Bloomington  that  day  he  was  seven  feet,  and  in- 
spired at  that." 


CHAPTER  VI 

Early  Days  in  Illinois. 

Lincoln  the  Rail  Splitter  and  Sir  Knight 
Of  the  Maul. 

FTER  THE  Bloomington  convention,  Mr. 
Herndon  hurried  back  home  to  Springfield 
in  advance  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  order  to  make 


arrangements  for  a  mass  meeting  the  purpose  of 
which  was  to  unite  the  discordant  elements  among 
their  constituents  into  a  new  party.  But  it  is  said 
that  when  the  time  came  for  the  meeting  which  was 
held  in  the  old  Court-House  at  the  Northeast  cor- 
ner of  the  capitol  square,  there  were  present  only 
three  persons.  According  to  Mr.  Herndon,  Mr. 
Lincoln  used  to  speak  of  it  jokingly  by  saying  that 
while  he  knew  himself  and  Mr.  Herndon  would  be 
there,  he  was  not  certain  that  any  one  else  would  be 
there,  and  that  the  meeting  was  larger  than  he  ex- 
pected.* I  have  heard  Mr.  Weber  relate  being  pres- 
ent at  a  similar  meeting  in  the  same  old  Court- 
House  with  Mr.  Lincoln  and  some  one  else  behind 

*  This  third  man's  name  was  John  Rim,  whom  Mr.  Herndon,  in 
higr  life  of  Lincoln,  calls  a  "courageous"  man,  so  great  was  the 
ordium  attached  to  the  term  aboJitionist.  The  prejudice  around 
Springfield  in  those  days  was  very  great,  and  owing,  no  doubt, 
to  the  great  number  of  Southerners  among  the  early  settlers  located 
in    and    around    Springfield. 

101 


102  Abraham  Lincoln 

closed  doors,  where  they  met  and  arranged  every- 
thing of  the  preliminary  matters  for  a  new  republi- 
can club  and  for  a  mass-meeting  which  came  later 
and  was  a  success.  The  truth  is,  the  reason  these 
first  meetings  were  not  larger,  there  was  the  odium 
attached  to  the  term,  Abolitionist,  which  was  one  of 
the  names  of  the  factionists  to  be  harmonized,  and 
only  a  few  cared  to  have  their  names  mixed  up  with 
them  in  a  political  party.  They  were  at  first  very 
unpopular — so  much  so  that  those  living  today 
scarcely  realize  this  fact.  On  this  point  I  give  two 
or  three  excerpts  from  Mr.  Newton's  Lincoln  and 
Herndon:  "Slavery  had  become  a  question  about 
which  men  in  Illinois  picked  their  words  with  care. 
So  intense  was  the  feeling  that  in  March,  1837 — 
one  month  before  Lincoln  entered  the  office  of 
Stuart — the  Assembly  passed  a  resolution  express- 
ing disapproval  of  the  formation  of  Abolition  so- 
cieties and  the  doctrines  advocated  by  them.  Many 
men  who  hated  slavery  sympathized  in  part  with 
this  action,  on  the  ground  that  such  agitation  ten- 
ded more  to  irritate  men  than  to  convince  them, 
thus  making  the  situation  doubly  difficult.  Still 

the  resolution  of  the  Assembly  passed  with  great 
enthusiasm,  glibly  ignored  the  moral  principle  in- 
volved, and  it  required  some  courage  for  Lincoln 
to  file  protest  against  it.  But  he  did  so  in  words 
so  well-chosen  and  far-sighted  that  he  had  no  need 
to  alter   them    for    thirty    years.       He    held    that 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  103 

slavery  "is  founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy, 
but  that  the  promulgation  of  abolition  doctrines 
tend  rather  to  increase  than  to  abate  the  evils." 

I  give  further  a  second  excerpt  from  the  same 
source :  "Shortly  afterwards  Elijah  Lovejoy,  editor 
of  the  St.  Louis  Observer,  a  religious  weekly,  was 
driven  from  that  city  by  a  mob  for  expressing  anti- 
slavery  sentiments  in  his  paper.  Unwisely,  as  many 
thought,  he  established  his  paper  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
only  twenty  miles  distant  by  steamer,  with  the  re- 
sult that  a  mob  attacked  his  press  and  he  was  shot 
while  defending  it.  Not  satisfied  with  this  brutal 
crime,  the  mob  threatened  to  attack  Illinois  College 
at  Jacksonville,  because  its  president,  Edward 
Beecher,  had  stood  guard  with  Lovejoy  the  night 
before  the  tragedy.  Excitement  was  at  fever  heat, 
and  indignation  meetings  were  held  throughout  the 
State.  At  a  gathering  of  students,  notable  for  its 
intensity  of  feeling,  William  Herndon,  in  a  speech 
long  remembered  by  his  fellow  students,  denounced 
not  only  the  enslavement  of  men,  but  the  attempt  to 
gag  the  press  by  mob  rule." 

"The  elder  Herndon,  who  was  intensely  pro- 
slavery  in  his  views,  fearing  that  his  son  had  be- 
come infested  with  the  poison  of  abolitionism  with- 
drew the  lad  from;  college,  remarking  that  he  would 
have  no  part  in  the  education  of  a  d abolition- 
ist pup !  It  was  as  he  had  suspected.  The  lad  came 
home     an    enthusiastic    and    radical    Abolitionist. 


104  Abraham  Lincoln 

There  was  a  break  between  father  and  son,  and  the 
boy  left  home,  though  he  remained  religiously  loyal 
to  his  mother,  visiting  her  almost  every  day."* 

He  had  been  employed  in  Springfield  before  enter- 
ing as  a  student  at  Illinois  College,  by  one  Joshua 
F.  Speed,  and  on  his  return  to  Springfield,  he  re- 
engaged himself  to  him.  as  clerk  in  his  store  at 
seven  hundred  dollars  per  annum  for  his  services, 
where  he  remained  for  several  years. 

I  return  to  the  place  in  my  narrative  from  which 
I  broke  away  to  give  the  foreging  excerpts  and  to 
where  Mr.  Weber,  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  one  other  man 
met  together  behind  closed  doors  in  the  old  Court 
House  to  consult  together  on  political  matters. 
From  this  time  forward  Mr.  Weber  and  Mr.  Lincoln 
became  warm  personal  friends,  more  so  than  the 
former  had  ever  been  with  Judge  Douglas.  The 
campaigning  of  1856  in  our  county,  which  was 
Sangamon,  was  the  most  hotly  contested  field  I 
had  ever  witnessed.  There  was  public  speaking  in 
almost  every  voting  precinct  in  the  county.  The 
only  time  I  remember  Mr.  Lincoln  being  at  our 
little  town  of  Mechanics-burg  to  make  a  speech  was 
in  that  year,  and  he  spoke  an  hour  and  a  half  at 
least.  He  had  a  full  house  on  that  night.  He 
spoke  mainly  in  behalf  of  Freemont,  and  admonish- 
ed those  of  the  American  party  to  vote  for  this 
candidate  as  the  most  likely  way  to  elect  Mr.  Fill- 
more, which  might  throw  the  matter  of  the  election 

*     See  Chapter  I  pages  7,8,  and  9  of  his  work,  Lincoln  and  Herndon. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  105 

of  the  President  into  the  House  of  Congress,  as 
they  held  the  balance  of  power,  but  that  there  was 
not  a  ghost  of  a  chance  for  the  American  party 
otherwise.  He  wrote  numerous  letters  that  year  to 
farmers  in  our  end  of  the  country  whom  he  knew 
to  be  Fillmore  men,  to  the  same  effect. 

There  were  many  large  mass-meetings  held  in 
Springfield  that  year  by  all  the  contesting  political 
parties  with  delegates  representing  each  township  in 
the  county,  and  at  some  of  these,  there  were  in 
attendance  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
persons,  or  more. 

In  the  campaign  of  1856,  both  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Mr  Herndon  made  speeches  for  their  candidate, 
especially  Lincoln  in  the  larger  towns  throughout 
the  State,  but  their  candidate  was  badly  defeated. 
Not  being  able  to  unite  all  the  factions  in  Illinois, 
especially  the  American  party,  Lincoln  foresaw  the 
inevitable  defeat  of  Freemont.  After  this  campaign, 
we  heard  very  little  from  Lincoln,  and  what  speeches 
we  did  hear  from  him, fell  far  below  those  we  have 
indicated  which  brought  him  into  such  conspicuous 
notice.  He  subsided  into  silence,  applying  himself 
assiduously  to  his  law  practice.  But  Lincoln  was  a 
politician  with  aspirations  for  dignified  and  exalted 
positions,  but  not  at  all  for  money  making.  Say 
what  we  may,  he  aspired  to  the  office  of  United 
States  senatorship,  and  even  to  the  Presidency,  for 
either  of  which  he  was  deservedly  qualified. 


106  Abraham  Lincoln 

Mr.  Herndon  has  related  in  some  of  his  notes 
what  was  going  on  in  Lincoln's  mind  during  this 
silence  from  1856  to  1858.  It  was  a  state  of  prep- 
aration in  a  special  way  in  which  he  and  Mr.  Hern- 
don worked  with  very  special  aim.  Lincoln  thought 
well  of  his  law  partner,  and  counselled  with  him  on 
many  points  with  respect  to  his  political  ambitions. 
It  is  related  of  Mr.  Lincoln  that  prior  to  the  con- 
vention which  met  at  Springfield  on  June  16th,  1858, 
he  carefully  prepared  and  wrote  out  the  speech 
which  he  delivered  before  this  Republican  conven- 
tion June  17th,  1858*  I  have  the  book  of  the  politi- 
cal Debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  before  me 
while  I  am  writing.  This  speech  is  great.  It  has  a 
history.  When  he  had  completed  writing  it,  he 
read  it  aloud  to  Herndon,  first  locking  the  office 
door  and  drawing  the  curtain  across  the  glass  panel 
of  the  same.  Mr.  Herndon  relates  that  he  read  the 
speech  paragraph  by  paragraph,  stopping  after  each 
to  wait  for  comment.  They  discussed  it  fully  be- 
tween them,  and  it  is  said  only  the  first  paragraph 
which  included  the  part  of  the  Scripture  quotation 

*  Mr.  Herndon  relates  in  life  of  Lincoln  that  a  few  days  before  this 
convention  met,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  was  busily  engaged  in  writing 
this  speech,  Jesse  K.  Dubois  who  was  Auditor  of  State,  came  into  the 
office  and  seeing  Mr.  Lincoln  busy  at  writing,  inquired  what  he  was 
doing  or  what  he  was  writing.  Lincoln  answered  gruffly.  "Its 
something  you  may  see  or  hear  sometime,  but  I'll  not  let  you  see 
it  now."  "After  the  convention  Mr.  Lincoln  met  me,"  says  Mr. 
Dubois,  "and  said,  1  can  tell  you  now  what  I  was  'doing  the  other 
day  when  you  came  into  my  office.  I  was  writing  that  speech,  and 
I  knew  rf  I  read  the  passage  about  the  "house  divided  against 
itself"  to  you,  you  would  ask  me  to  change  or  modify  it,  and 
that  I  was  determined  not  to  do  so.  I  had  willed  it  so,  and 
was    willing  if    necessary    to    perish    with    it."      From    M.  S.    Statement. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  107 

from  Jesus  Christ,  raised  any  question.  He  had 
used  this  quotation  in  his  Bloomington  speech  which 
drew  from  Judge  Dickey  the  unjust  and  wicked  re- 
mark, "A  d fool  utterance."  Mr  Herndon  re- 
membering the  remark,  said :  "It  is  true,  but  is  it 
wise  or  polite  to  say  so?"  Where  upon  Lincoln  re- 
plied in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  man,  which  reply 
will  be  remembered  when  the  name  of  Judge  Dickey 
will  have  been  forgotten.  I  give  it  as  I  find  it: 
"That  expression  is_a  truth  of  all  human  experience, 
'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  The 
proposition  is  also  true,  and  has  been  true  for  six 
thousand  years.  I  want  to  use  some  universally 
well  known  figures  expressed  in  simple  language  as 
universally  well  known,  that  may  strike  home  to  the 
minds  of  men  in  order  to  raise  them  up  to  the  peril 
of  the  times.  I  do  not  believe  I  would  be  right  in 
changing  or  omitting  it.  I  would  rather  be  defeated 
with  this  expression  in  the  speech,  and  uphold  and  dis- 
cuss it  before  the  people,  than  be  victorious  without 
it." 

But  this  is  not  the  end  of  the  matter  of  this 
speech.  Afterward,  Lincoln  called  a  few  of  his  per- 
sonal friends  together  in  the  library  of  the  State 
House  and  read  to  them  the  speech.  All  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Herndon  pronounced  against  it,  principal- 
ly because  they  thought  it  was  too  radical  to  suit  the 
Anti-Lecompton  Democrats  whom  it  was  especially 
desirous  to  retain.     Not  one  endorsed  the  wisdom 


108  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  making  that  speech ;  but  when  they  were  all  done, 
Herndon  exclaimed,  "Lincoln,  deliver  that  speech 
as  read,  and  it  will  make  you  President."*  And 
he  delivered  it. 

In  1858,  he  became  the  competitor  for  the  office 
of  the  United  States  senatorship  against  Douglas. 
It  somehow  always  transpired  that  Lincoln  arose 
to  great  eminence  in  his  oratorical  efforts  when 
pitched  against  Douglas.  The  latter  became  eminent- 
ly conspicuous  by  his  course  of  opposition  to  Presi- 
dent Buchanan  when  his  term  of  office  of  the  United 
States  senatorship  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  he 
returned  to  Illinois  flushed  by  his  victory  over  him ; 
and,  armed,  moreover,  with  the  Dred  Scott  Decision, 
he  determined  to  push  his  campaign  with  the  ut- 
most vigor.  Lincoln  was  waiting  and  watchful  to 
dispute  every  inch  of  his  way  with  his  careful 
preparation.  Douglas  returned  to  Chicago  accom- 
panied by  his  newly  wedded  wife  who  was  a  very 
fascinating  and  accomplished  lady,  qualified  in  every 
way  to  render  him  popular  and  to  assist  him  wher- 
ever he  went.  Indeed,  so  popular  was  he  that  his 
reception  was  every  where  one  ceaseless  round  of 
toasting  and  ovation. 

His  return  to  Chicago  was  greeted  by  a  com- 
mittee of  reception,  with  a  grand  supper,  a  brass 
band,  a  procession,  and  the  firing  of  cannon.  At 
night  he  made  a  great   speech.      Mr.    Lincoln   was 

*      Herndon    and    Wiek's    Life    of    Lincoln. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  109 

present  on  the  balcony  from  which  he  made  his 
speech  only  a  few  feet  away  from  him  and  heard 
every  word.  The  next  evening  he  made  a  great 
speech  also  in  reply  from  the  same  balcony.  Mr. 
Douglas  made  a  great,  popular  and  introductory 
speech  opening  his  campaign.  In  it  he  gloated  over 
his  late  victory  in  the  senate.  He  was  very  smooth 
and  patronizing,  and  after  he  had  himself  proceeded 
to  some  length,  he  turned  from  his  theme  to  address 
Mr.  Lincoln  personally.  After  his  compliments  to 
the  latter,  as  a  kind,  amiable,  intelligent  and  worthy 
competitor  whom  he  had  known  for  many  years,  he 
addressed  himself  to  an  attack  upon  the  latter's 
speech  at  Springfield,  delivered  on  the  occasion  of 
his  nomination  for  United  States  senator  from 
Illinois  in  lieu  of  Mr.  Douglas.  We  gave  a  mo- 
ment ago  a  little  bit  of  history  of  that  speech  of 
Lincoln's  acceptance.  Sure  enough,  as  anticipated, 
Mr.  Douglas  attacked  its  first  paragraph,  the  im- 
pregnable basis,  as  Lincoln  thought,  uttered  by  the 
historic  Christ :  "A  house  divided  against  itself  can- 
not stand,"  which  passage  Lincoln  took  from  the 
Word  in  order  to  make  his  attack  upon  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  .  These  two  speeches  may  be  con- 
sidered the  commencement  of  the  great  political 
joint  debate  between  these  champions,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln's  speech  of  acceptance  at  Springfield  was 
the  key.  In  it  Mr.  Lincoln  had  said :  "I  believe  this 
government  cannot  endure  half  slave  and  half  free. 


110  Abraham  Lincoln 

I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall ;  but  I  do  expect  it 
to  cease  to  he  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing 
or  the  other.  Mr.  Douglas  attacked  Mr.  Lincoln's 
position  in  strong  terms. 

Another  point  in  Lincoln's  speech  of  acceptance 
of  the  candidature  of  the  United  States  senatorship 
was  his  opposition  to  the  Dred  Scott  Decision.  It 
was  one  of  the  strong  points  with  which  Douglas 
expected  easy  victory  over  his  competitor.  It  was 
the  side  of  the  law ;  but  Lincoln  took  his  stand 
against  it  from  the  moral  standpoint,  arguing 
against  the  moral  status  of  slavery,  insisting  that 
although  the  Decision  was  by  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court  that  Decision  might  be  reversed  or  be 
lawfully  changed.  Lincoln  attacked  his  position  in 
the  whole  course  he  took  in  the  senate,  first  for  his 
pro-slavery  participation  in  the  Repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  for  his  maintenance  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  for  his  upholding  the  Su- 
preme Court  Decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case.  The 
position  of  Mr.  Douglas  was  a  difficult  one  and 
now  required  him  to  reverse  himself  from  his  form- 
er course  of  working  with  the  pro-slavery  element. 
His  position  on  the  Kansas- Nebraska  bill  was  a 
course  inconsistent  with  his  former  course,  and  his 
Popular-Sovereignty  scheme  was  only  a  thin  veneer 
to  hide  this  inconsistency,  which  he  could  not  make 
work  to  this  real  advantage.  Douglas  had  stated  in 
the  United  States  senate  in  his  opposition  to  Presi- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  111 

dent  Buchanan  with  respect  to  the  Kansas  State 
constitution,  that  it  was  her  right  to  have  her  con- 
stitution as  she  wanted  it.  If  she  had  desired  to  be 
a  slave  state,  she  had  a  perfect  right  to  be  so;  but 
if  it  were  her  choice  to  be  a  free  state,  that  was  her 
privilege.  "It  is  none  of  my  business,"  maintained 
Mr.  Douglas,  "which  way  the  slavery  clause  is  de- 
cided. I  care  not  whether  it  is  voted  up  or  down." 
Mr.  Lincoln  saw  through  this  entire  matter  of  Judge 
Douglas,  and  he  ceased  not  to  ring  changes  upon  it 
during  the  entire  joint  discussion.  Douglas  tried 
to  get  even  with  Lincoln  by  doing  likewise  over  the 
matter  of  the  latter's  "divided  house"  clause  para- 
graph in  his  Springfield  speech  of  acceptance  as  a 
candidate  for  Mr.  Douglas's  position  as  United 
States  senator.  Their  rivalry  as  candidates  became 
so  hotly  contested  that  before  it  was  through  with, 
it  wore  so  heavily  upon  Douglas  he  showed  signs 
of  nervousness  even  to  the  point  of  irritation.  But 
Lincoln  cared  for  none  of  this.  Whoever  desires 
to  read  or  re-read  this  controversy,  will  find  the 
two  Chicago  speeches  of  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  the 
attack  of  the  former  and  the  answer  of  the  latter, 
a  good  preface  to  this  whole  joint  discussion. 

In  a  former  chapter  we  promised  to  have  some- 
thing to  say  concerning  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  "Rail- 
splitter"  and  his  "Rails."  We  do  so  now  at  the 
close  of  this  chapter  and  before  we  begin  the  chapter 
on  the  joint  discussion.      We   have    already   given 


112  Abraham  Lincoln 

some  points  in  regard  to  this  subje,ct,  but  there  are 
some  other  features  connected  therewith  that  man)' 
may  not  know,  and  which  may  be  regarded  as  its 
funny  side  which  some  people  will  enjoy.  Mr. 
Lincoln  received  the  title,  whether  a  dignified  one 
or  not  of  the  "  Rail-splitter  of  the  Republic  of  the 
West."  A  well  known  and  dignified  English  Gentle- 
man has  well  spoken  of  him  under  this  title.  This 
he  has  sometimes  been  called  in  England,  but  in  this 
country  where  we  do  not  pay  so  much  heed  to  honors, 
he  has  been  simply  designated  by  the  common  term, 
"Rail-splitter."  The  above  honorary  English  desig- 
nation, had  he  lived  a  few  centuries  ago,  might  have 
been  extended  and  added  to  as  a  "Sir  Knight  of  the 
Maul,  the  Axe  and  the  Wedge,"  the  necessary  work- 
ing tools  of  that  occupation  or  as  appendages  of  his 
profession,  after  his  name  and  his  fame  had  passed 
into  history.  But  his  fame  as  a  rail-splitter  was  not 
due  him  in  his  early  days,  but  years  afterward  to 
his  coming  into  political  prominence,  and  when  he 
was  about  to  receive  the  nomination  at  a  State  con- 
vention held  at  Decatur  previous  to  the  national  con- 
vention held  at  Chicago,  which  nominated  him  for 
Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

Be  this  story  of  Mr.  Lincoln  whatever  it  may; 
it  is  a  true  one  from  the  source  of  its  origin,  and 
worked  to  his  advantage  in  spreading  his  name 
world  wide  as  the  Cincinnatus  of  the  Republic  of  the 
West,  and  was  a  story  which  he  himself  enjoyed. 


'Early  Days  in  Illinois  113 

The  advantages  derived  from  it  was,  it  helped  the 
republican  party  to  elect  him  President  of  the  United 
States.  And  thereby  hangs  another  story  of  the 
appendages  of  his  title.  It  is  the  story  of  the  "maul," 
which  I  shall  now  relate.  To  do  this,  I  shall  have 
recourse  to  Mr.  Weber's  Reminiscences  again  of 
the  early  times  in  Springfield.  It  will  be  of  interest 
to  some  people  to  know,  and  must  be  authenticated. 
Some  of  these  reminiscences  appeared  in  a  small 
weekly  paper  which  he  and  his  sons  published  in 
Springfield  for  several  years  after  the  Civil  War. 
The  story  is  as  follows :  "After  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
nominated  by  the  Chicago  convention,  the  republican 
executive  committee  in  Springfield  received  orders 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  from  union  leagues 
and  executive  committees  for  one  of  Lincoln's  old 
rails.  The  demand  became  so  great  that  our  old 
friend  Llopper  turned  it  into  a  grand  speculation. 

John  Hopper  kept  a  news  depot  on  Sixth  street, 
between  Adams  and  Monroe.  He  was  from  New 
York  city,  and  was  acquainted  with  all  the  tricks  of 
politicans.  Hopper  bought  old  rails  by  wholesale 
and  shipped  all  orders  from  abroad,  at  reasonable 
prices  (any  price  was  considered  reasonable  for  so 
precious  a  relic).  Hopper  made  a  good  thing  out 
of  it.  And  Hopper  did  a  good  work  for  the  republi- 
cans in  the  days  of  their  purity. 

"But  to  cap  the1  climax,  during  this  mania  for 
rails,  "Uncle  Jesse"  (Jesse  K.  Du  Bois)  visited  his 


114  Abraham  Lincoln 

farm  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  one  day 
in  going  into  the  timber,  he  spied  an  old  maul.  In 
an  instant  a  bright  idea  was  dancing  in  his  head 
and  gleaming  from  his  good  natured  face.  He 
thought  he  could  pass  the  maul  off  for  one  of 
Lincoln's  old  mauls.  He  brought  the  maul  to  Spring- 
field and  presented  it  to  Hopper  just  in  time  to  fill 
an  order  from  Massachusetts  for  a  Lincoln  rail  or 
some  other  relic  of  his  days  of  hard  labor.  Hopper 
knew  exactly  how  to  fix  it  up,  and  proceeded  at  once 
to  have  the  maul  and  rail  certified  to  by  several 
noted  republicans  as  genuine  relics  of  "Old  Abe." 
They  were  sent  with  the  bill  "C.  O.  D." 

"The  arrival  of  the  maul  and  rail  produced  a 
sensation  in  Massachusetts.  In  the  after  calls  for 
republican  conventions  in  New  England,  all  that 
was  necessary  to  secure  an  immense  crowd  was  to 
announce  the  fact  that  Lincoln's  maul  would  be  on 
exhibition." 


CHAPTER    VII 

Early  Days  in  Illinois. 
The  Preliminaries  of  the  Joint  Discussion. 

HT  IS  NOT  our  purpose  to  extend  these  notes 
to  any  great  length  into  the  joint  debate  be- 
tween these  two  men,  yet  it  is  needful  to  take 
it  up  and  follow  if  far  enough  to  give  the  salient 
points  between  them,  and  in  such  wise  as  shall  be 
clear  and  understood;  also,  that  any  one  who  has 
never  read  the  discussion  may  be  able  to  judge  of 
the  relative  merits  of  the  two  contestants.  Other- 
wise, these  sketches  would  seem  to  be  incomplete ; 
and,  moreover,  because  some  idea  may  be  realized 
of  the  great  questions  which  were  uppermost  be- 
fore the  American  nation  to  be  settled,  and  which 
cost  a  bloody  civil  war  in  the  end.  Those  living  in 
this  age,  after  it  is  all  over  and  settled,  can  scarcely 
judge  of  the  magnitude  of  the  strife,  nor  realize 
what  it  cost. 

These  debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were 
the  prelude  to  the  crisis;  and  they  drew  upon  them 
not  only  the  eyes  of  all  the  States,  but  the  attention 
of  the  world,  and  towards  the  great  State  of  Illinois, 
because  it  was  here  these  champions  lived,  who  were 

115 


116  Abraham  Lincoln 

contending  for  high  honors,  and  not  only  so,  but 
because  of  the  great  question  of  slavery  between 
them  which  was  up  for  discussion,  was  so  greatly 
affecting  the  American  nation  and  Government  just 
at  this  time  either  for  its  extension  or  prohibition, 
into  new  territory.  The  mind  of  the  people  was 
very  much  agitated  everywhere  throughout  the 
States,  and  was  the  great  issue  which  was  being 
threshed  out  between  these  two  great  contestants  in 
their  great  arguments. 

The  breach  between  the  anti-slavery  faction  of  the 
north  and  the  pro-slavery  faction  of  the  south  widen- 
ed and  threatened  the  perpetuity  of  the  American 
government.  Every  body  was  watching  with  strain- 
ed eyes  the  result  of  the  issue  in  Illinois  in  1858 
which  had  for  its  object  the  United  States  senator- 
ship  of  that  State. 

In  the  immediately  preceding  chapter  is  given  in 
part  the  conditions  obtaining  in  Illinois  just  at  this 
time.  It  is  necessary  to  recur  to  the  conditions  to 
give  some  additional  points  in  order  to  bring  the 
subject  more  fully  before  our  minds,  and  to  give 
cause  why  it  was  so.  If  there  were  any  two  States 
in  the  Union  which  were  more  pivotal  in  the  North 
and  in  the  South  on  the  slavery  question  than  the 
others,  those  two  States  were  respectively  Illinois 
and  South  Carolina,  the  former  of  anti-slavery 
tendencies,  and  the  latter  of  pro-slavery  tendencies. 
In  the  early  settlement  of  Illinois,  the  pro-slavery 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  117 

interests  undertook  to  make  of  her  broad  prairies 
a  territory  which  would  eventually  become,  when 
admitted  into  the  Union,  a  slave  State.  But  the 
scheme  failed.  On  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, that  same  pro-slavery  interest  was  revived, 
and  hopes  were  entertained  that  Kansas  and  Nebras- 
ka would  both  become  slave  States. 

We  have  seen  the  part  Senator  Douglas  took  in 
this  matter.  Hence  the  warfare  of  words  and  an- 
tagonism between  him  and  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the 
discussions  which  took  place  and  which  lasted  a  per- 
iod of  the  greater  part  of  a  decade.  While  Lincoln 
was  defeated  for  the  senatorship  by  Douglas,  the 
great  discussions  were  the  means  of  so  bringing  out 
the  latent  powers  of  Lincoln  as  to  have  greater 
honors  conferred  upon  him  which  seem  to  have  been 
reserved  for  him  Providentially — The  Presidency  of 
the  United  States. 

Before  taking  up  the  joint  discussions  proper, 
some  things  else  as  a  fore-word  would  seem  to  be 
necessary.  The  debate  between  these  two  rivals  for 
the  senatorship  really  began  before  the  joint  dis- 
cussion which  followed  the  challenge  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  campaign  was  really  ushered  in  at  Chicago  on 
the  occasion  of  the  reception  of  Mr.  Douglas  when 
he  made  a  speech  to  the  people  of  that  city  from  the 
balcony  of  his  hotel  on  July  6th,  on  his  return  home 
from  the  East,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
the  next  evening  from  the  same  balcony  in  a  reply. 


118  Abraham  Lincoln 

A  brief  detailed  account  of  these  speeches  has  been 
given  in  chapter  six.  On  July  16th  Mr.  Douglas 
delivered  a  speech  at  Bloomington,  and  another  the 
next  day  at  Springfield.  These  two  speeches  are 
very  similar.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  present  and  heard 
the  Bloomington  speech,  but  was  not  present  at  the 
Springfield  speech.  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  to  the 
Bloomington  speech  the  next  day  at  Springfield,  but 
Mr.  Douglas  was  not  present.  Mr.  Douglas  made 
his  two  speeches  respectively  at  Bloomington  and 
Springfield  in  daylight;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  made  his 
answer  to  the  former  on  the  evening  of  the  17th  at 
Springfield,  with  only  twenty- four  hours  time  for 
preparation  including  his  trip  to  Springfield.  Both 
these  speeches  of  these  contestants  are  master-pieces 
of  their  kind  and  in  what  they  meant  to  the  whole 
country.  Heretofore,  the  writer  had  been  in  sym- 
pathy with  Mr.  Douglas  on  account  mainly  of  his 
Popular  Sovereignty  doctrine,  and  because  of  the 
course  he  had  taken  in  the  United  States  senate 
against  President  Buchanan  and  his  friends  to 
foist  slavery  upon  the  State  of  Kansas  knocking  at 
the  door  for  admission  into  the  Union.  He  was 
then  well  along  in  his  "teens"  and  had  been  watch- 
ing the  course  of  events,  reading  both  sides  of  the 
question  of  slavery  thrust  upon  the  people  for  their 
consideration  just  at  this  period.  He  had  taken  up 
with  the  popular  side  which  was  in  keeping  the  exist- 
ing law  of  the  land  out  of  respect  for  the  lazv  itself, 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  119 

and  Douglas  was  his  hero  in  this  defense;  but  the 
reading  of  the  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  sent  him 
Lincolnward  ever  thereafter. 

I  desire  to  give  here  in  a  chapter  by  itself  follow- 
ing this  one  after  I  shall  have  gotten  through  with 
preliminaries  and  the  correspondence  which  led  up 
to  the  joint  discussion,  these  two  great  speeches  in 
their  exact  form  in  which  they  were  delivered,  for 
they  together  with  the  Chicago  speech  led  up  to  the 
challenge,  and  the  great  discussion  which  grew  out 
of  it.  There  are  those  who  may  never  have  read 
the  exact  issues  between  these  two  disputants,  and 
who  would  like  to  read  them  just  as  they  were  put 
by  themselves  with  the  struggle  of  "Greek  against 
Greek"  for  the  mastery.  However,  before  I  do  so, 
I  shall  transcribe  here  a  brief  statement  of  the  issues 
between  them  which  I  find  in  the  Centennial  Edition 
of  the  Illinois  State  Register  at  Springfield,  written 
by  Mr.  Walter  Lewis  Patterson,  June  23rd,  1918, 
as  follows : 

"The  doctrine  set  forth  by  Douglas  in  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  and  defended  by  him  throughout  his 
political  career,  was  known  as  'Popular- Sovereignty', 
which  was  changed  by  his  political  enemies  to 
'Squatter  Sovereignty',  and  it  was  simply  that  the 
people  of  a  territory  applying  for  admission  as  a 
state  of  the  Union,  had  a  right  to  decide  for  them- 
selves whether  they  should  own  slaves  or  not,  and 
that  Congress  had  no  power  to  deny  this  right,  but 


120  Abraham  Lincoln 

when  the  democratic  national  administration  of 
which  President  James  Buchanan  was  the  head, 
attempted  to  force  Kansas  into  the  Union  under  a 
constitution  recognizing  slavery  against  the  will  of 
a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  territory,  Douglas 
denounced  the  act  in  unmeasured  terms,  and  thus 
drew  down  upon  himself  the  opposition  of  the 
President  and  his  political  friends.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  opposition  in  his  own  party,  Douglas  went 
before  the  people  of  Illinois  for  his  vindication,  and 
when  challenged  to  a  joint  debate  by  Lincoln,  who 
had  been  selected  by  the  republican  state  convention 
as  a  candidate  for  United  States  senator,  he  accepted 
and  went  into  the  fight  with  all  confidence  and 
courage  that  had  carried  him  to  former  victories. 
Both  of  these  men  were  equipped  for  the  contest 
not  only  with  natural  ability,  but  with  political 
experience." 

One  thing  more  I  would  say  here.  There  may  be 
those  who  shall  be  my  readers,  who  have  never  read 
an  entire  speech  of  these  two  men,  but  who  would 
like  to  have  this  privilege  in  order  to  judge  of  their 
power  as  orators  and  especially  the  closely  contest- 
ed questions  between  them  at  this  period.  These 
two  speeches  are  fair  samples  although  possibly  not 
their  best  examples,  and  both  were  delivered  in  the 
home  town  of  Lincoln,  which  had  once  been  the 
home  of  Judge  Douglas  in  an  earlier  day  of  their 
history. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  121 

CORRESPONDENCE 

Between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Douglas  relative 
to  the  Joint  Discussion  which  was  held  between 
them  between  the  dates  of  August  21st  and  Octo- 
ber 15th  inclusive,  1858. 

Chicago,  111.,  July  24th,  1858. 
Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas — My  Dear  Sir : 

Will  it  be  agreeable  to  you  to  make  an  arrange- 
ment for  you  and  myself  to  divide  time,  and  address 
the  same  audiences  the  present  canvass?  Mr.  Judd, 
who  will  hand  you  this,  is  authorized  to  receive 
your  answer;  and,  if  agreeable  to  you,  to  enter  into 
the  terms  of  such  arrangement. 

Your  Obedient  Servant 

A.  Lincoln. 

Chicago,  July  24th,  1858 
Hon.  A.  Lincoln — Dear  Sir: 

Your  note  of  this  date,  in  which  you  inquire 
if  it  would  be  agreeable  to  me  to  make  arrangement 
to  divide  the  time  and  address  the  same  audiences 
during  the  present  canvass,  was  handed  me  by  Mr. 
Judd.  Recent  events  have  interposed  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  such  an  arrangement. 

I  went  to  Springfield  last  week  for  the  purpose 
of  conferring  with  the  Democratic  State  Central 
Committee  upon  the  mode  of  conducting  the  canvass, 
and  with  them,  and  under  their  advice,  made  a  list 
of   appointments   covering   the   entire   period   until 


122  Abraham  Lincoln 

late  in  October.  The  people  of  the  several  localities 
have  been  notified  of  the  times  and  places  of  the 
meetings.  Those  appointments  have  all  been  made 
for  Democratic  meetings,  and  arrangements  have 
been  made  by  which  the  Democratic  candidates  for 
Congress,  for  the  Legislature,  and  other  offices,  will 
be  present  and  address  the  people.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  these  various  candidates,  in  connec- 
tion with  myself,  will  occupy  the  whole  time  of  the 
day  and  evening,  and  leave  no  opportunity  for  other 
speeches. 

Besides,  there  is  another  consideration  which 
should  be  kept  in  mind.  It  has  been  suggested  re- 
cently that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  to  bring 
out  a  third  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate, 
who,  with  yourself,  should  canvass  the  State  in  op- 
position to  me,  with  no  other  purpose  than  to  insure 
my  defeat,  by  dividing  the  Democratic  party  for 
your  benefit.  If  I  should  make  this  arrangement 
with  you,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  this  candi- 
date who  has  a  common  object  with  you,  would  de- 
sire to  become  a  party  to  it,  and  claim  the  right  to 
speak  from  the  same  stand;  so  that  he  and  you,  in 
concert,  might  be  able  to  take  the  opening  and 
closing  in  every  case. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  my  surprise,  if 
it  was  your  original  intention  to  invite  such  an 
arrangement,  that  you  should  have  waited  until 
after  I  should  have  made  my  appointments,   inas- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  123 

much  as  we  were  both  here  in  Chicago  together  for 
several  days  after  my  arrival,  and  again  at  Bloom- 
ington,  Atlanta,  Lincoln  and  Springfield,  where  it 
was  well  known  I  went  for  the  purpose  of  consult- 
ing with  the  State  Central  Committee,  and  agreeing 
upon  the  plan  of  the  campaign. 

While,  under  the  circumstances,  I  do  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  make  any  arrangements  which  would  de- 
prive the  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress,  State 
office,  and  the  Legislature  from  participating  in  the 
discussion  at  the  various  meetings  designated  by  the 
Democratic  State  Central  Committee,  I  will,  in  order 
to  accommodate  you  as  far  as  it  is  in  my  power  to 
do  so,  take  the  responsibility  of  making  an  arrange- 
ment with  you  for  a  discussion  between  us  at  one 
prominent  point  in  each  Congressional  District  in 
the  State,  except  the  second  and  sixth  districts,  where 
we  have  both  spoken,  and  in  each  of  which  cases 
you  had  the  concluding  speech.  If  agreeable  to  you, 
T.  will  indicate  the  following  places  as  the  most  suit- 
able in  the  several  Congressional  Districts  at  which 
we  should  speak,  to  wit:  Freeport,  Ottawa,  Gales- 
burg,  Quincy,  Alton,  Jonesboro  and  Charleston. 
I  will  confer  with  you  at  the  earliest  convenient  op- 
portunity in  regard  to  the  mode  of  conducting  the 
debate,  the  times  of  meeting  at  the  several  places, 
subject  to  the  condition,  and  where  appointments 
have  been  made  by  the  Democratic  State  Central 


124  Abraham  Lincoln 

Committeeat  any  of  those  places,  I  must  insist  upon 
you  meeting  me  at  the  times  specified. 

Very  respectfully,  Your  obedient  servant, 

S\  A.  Douglas. 

Springfield,  111.,  July  29th,  1858. 
Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas — Dear  Sir : 

Yours  of  the  24th  in  relation  to  an  arrange- 
ment to  divide  time,  and  address  the  same  audiences, 
is  received ;  and,  in  apology  for  not  sooner  replying, 
allow  me  to  say,  that  when  I  sat  by  you  at  dinner 
yesterday,  I  was  not  aware  that  you  had  answered 
my  note,  nor,  certainly,  that  my  own  note  had  been 
presented  to  you.  An  hour  after,  I  saw  a  copy  of 
your  answer  in  the  Chicago  Times,  and,  reaching 
home,  I  found  the  original  awaiting  me.  Protest- 
ing that  your  insinuations  of  attempting  unfairness 
on  my  part  are  unjust,  and  with  the  hope  that  you 
did  not  considerately  make  them,  I  proceed  to  reply. 
To  your  statement  that  "It  has  been  suggested,  re- 
cently, that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  to  bring 
out  a  third  candidate  for  U.  S.  Senate,  who,  with 
yourself,  should  canvass  the  State  in  opposition  to 
me,"  etc.,  I  can  only  say,  that  such  suggestion  must 
have  been  made  by  yourself,  for  certainly  none  such 
has  been  made  by  or  to  me,  or  otherwise,  to  my 
knowledge.  Surely  you  did  not  deliberately  con- 
clude, as  you  insinuate,  that  I  was  expecting  to  draw 
you  into  an  arrangement  of  terms,  to  be  agreed  on 
yourself,  by  which  a  third    candidate    and   myself, 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  125 

r'in  concert,  might  be  able  to  take  the  opening  and 
closing  speech  in  every  case." 

As  to  your  surprise  that  I  did  not  sooner  make 
the  proposal  to  divide  time  with  you,  I  can  only  say, 
I  made  it  as  soon  as  I  resolved  to  make  it.  I  did 
not  know  but  that  such  proposal  would  come  from 
you;  I  waited,  respectfully,  to  see.  It  may  have 
been  well  known  to  you  that  you  went  to  Spring- 
field for  the  purpose  of  agreeing  on  the  campaign; 
but  it  was  not  so  known  to  me.  When  your  appoint- 
ments were  announced  in  the  papers,  extending  only 
to  the  21st  of  August,  I,  for  the  first  time  consider- 
ed it  certain  that  you  would  make  no  proposal  to 
me,  and  then  resolved  that,  if  my  friends  concurred, 
I  would  make  one  to  you.  As  soon  thereafter  as  I 
could  see  and  consult  with  friends  satisfactorily,  I 
did  make  the  proposal.  It  did  not  occur  to  me  that 
the  proposed  arrangements  could  derange  your 
plans  after  the  latest  of  your  appointments  already 
made.  After  that,  there  was,  before  the  election, 
largely  over  two  months  of  clear  time. 

For  you  to  say  that  we  have  already  spoken  at 
Chicago  and  Springfield,  and  that  on  both  occasions 
I  had  the  concluding  speech,  is  hardly  a  fair  state- 
ment. The  truth  rather  is  this :  At  Chicago,  July 
9th,  you  made  a  carefully-prepared  conclusion  on 
my  speech  June  16th.  Twenty  four  hours  after,  I 
made  a  hasty  conclusion  on  yours  of  the  9th.  You 
had  six  days  to  prepare,  and  concluded  on  me  again 


126  Abraham  Lincoln 

at  Bloomington  on  the  16th.  Twenty  four  hours 
after,  I  concluded  on  you  at  Springfield.  In  the 
meantime,  you  had  made  another  conclusion  on  me 
at  Springfield,  which  I  did  not  hear,  and  of  the  con- 
tents of  which  I  knew  nothing  when  I  spoke ;  so 
that  your  speech  made  in  daylight,  and  mine  at  night, 
of  the  17th,  at  Springfield  were  both  made  in  per- 
fect independence  of  each  other.  The  dates  of 
making  all  these  speeches  will  show,  I  think,  that  in 
the  matter  of  time  for  preparation,  the  advantage 
has  all  been  on  your  side ;  and  that  none  of  the  ex- 
ternal circumstances  have  stood  to  my  advantage. 

I  agree  to  an  arrangement  for  us  to  speak  at  the 
seven  places  you  have  named,  and  at  your  own  times, 
provided  you  name  the  times  at  once,  so  that  I,  as 
well  as  you  can  have  to  myself  the  time  covered  by 
the  arrangement.  As  to  the  other  details,  I  wish 
perfect  reciprocity,  and  no  more.  I  wish  as  much 
time  as  you,  and  that  conclusions  shall  alternate. 
That  is  all. 

Your  obedient  servant, 
A.  Lincoln. 

P.  S.  As  matters  stand,  I  shall  be  at  no  more  of 
your  exclusive  meetings ;  and  for  about  a  week  from 
today  a  letter  from  you  will  reach  me  at  Springfield. 

A.L. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  127 

Bement,  Piatt  Co.,  111.,  July  30,  1858. 
Dear  Sir: 

Your  letter,  dated  yesterday,  accepting  my  prop- 
osition for  a  joint  discussion  at  one  prominent 
point  in  each  Congressional  District,  as  stated  in  my 
previous  letter,  was  received  this  morning. 

The  times  and  places  designated  are  as  follows : 

Ottawa,  Lasalle  County,  August  21st,  1858 

Freeport,  Stephenson  County,  August  27th,  1858 
Jonesboro,  Union  County,  September  15th,  1858 
Charleston,  Coles  County,  September  18th,  1858 
Galesburgh,  Knox  County,  October  7th,  1858 

Quincy,  Adams  County,  October   13th,   1858 

Alton,  Madison  County  October  15th,  1858 

I  agree  to  your  suggestion  that  we  shall  alternately 
open  and  close  the  discussion.  I  will  speak  at 
Ottawa  one  hour,  you  can  reply,  occupying  an  hour 
and  a  half,  and  I  will  follow  for  half  an  hour.  At 
Freeport  you  shall  open  the  discussion  and  speak  an 
hour,  I  will  follow  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  you 
can  then  reply  for  half  an  hour.  We  will  alternate 
in  like  manner  in  each  successive  place. 

Very  respectfully,  Your  obedient  servant, 
Hon.  A.  Lincoln,  Springfield,  111.       S.  A.  Douglas. 

Springfield,  July,  31st,  1858. 
Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas — Dear  Sir : 

Yours  of  yesterday,  naming  places,  times  and 
turns,  for  joint  discussion  between  us,  was  received 


128  Abraham  Lincoln 

this  morning.  Although,  by  the  terms,  as  you  pro- 
pose, you  take  four  openings  and  closes,  to  my  three, 
I  accede,  and  thus  close  the  arrangement.  I  direct 
this  to  you  at  Hillsboro,  and  shall  try  to  have  both 
your  letter  and  this  appear  in  the  Journal  and  Regis- 
ter of  Monday  morning. 

Your  Obedient  Servant, 

A.  Lincoln. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Early  Days  in  Illinois. 

Speech  of  Senator  Douglas. 

Delivered  July  17th,  1858,  at  Springfield,  III.   (Mt 
Lincoln  not  being  Present). 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow-Citizens  of  Springfield 
and  Old  Sangamon :  My  heart  is  filled  with  emo- 
tion at  the  allusions  which  have  been  so  happily  and 
so  kindly  made  in  the  welcome  just  extended  to  me, — 
a  welcome  so  numerous  and  so  enthusiastic,  bringing 
me  to  my  home  among  my  old  friends,  that  language 
cannot  express  my  gratitude.  I  do  feel  at  home 
whenever  I  return  to  old  Sangamon  and  receive 
those  kind  and  friendly  greetings  which  have  never 
failed  to  meet  me  when  I  have  come  among  you; 
but  never  before  have  I  had  such  occasion  to  be 
grateful  and  to  be  proud  of  the  manner  of  the  re- 
ception as  at  present.  While  I  am  willing,  sir,  to 
attribute  a  part  of  this  demonstration  to  those  kind 
and  friendly  personal  relations  to  which  you  have 
referred,  I  cannot  conceal  from  myself  that  the  con- 
trolling and  prevailing  element  in  this  mass  of  hu- 
man beings  is  devotion  to  that  principle  of  self- 
129 


130  Abraham  Lincoln 

government  to  which  so  many  years  of  my  life  have 
been  devoted ;  and  rejoice  more  in  considering  it  an 
approval  of  my  support  of  a  cardinal  principle  than 
I  would  if  I  could  appropriate  it  to  myself  as  a  per- 
sonal compliment. 

You  but  speak  rightly  when  you  assert  that  during 
the  last  session  of  Congress  there  was  an  attempt 
to  violate  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  upon 
which  our  free  institutions  rest.  The  attempt  to 
force  the  Lecompton  Constitution  upon  the  people 
of  Kansas  against  her  will  would  have  been,  if  suc- 
cessful, subversive  of  the  great  fundamental  prin- 
ciples upon  which  our  institutions  rest.  If  there  is 
any  one  principle  more  sacred  and  more  vital  to  the 
existence  of  a  free  government  than  all  others,  it  is 
the  right  of  the  people  to  form  and  ratify  the  con- 
stitution under  which  they  are  to  live.  It  is  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  temple  of  liberty;  it  is  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  the  whole  structure  rests;  and 
whenever  it  can  be  successfully  evaded,  self-govern- 
ment has  received  a  stab.  I  deemed  it  my  duty  as 
a  citizen  and  as  a  representative  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  to  resist,  with  all  my  energies  and  with 
whatever  ability  I  could  command,  the  consumma- 
tion of  that  effort  to  force  a  constitution  upon  an 
unwilling  people.  I  am  aware  that  other  questions 
have  been  connected,  or  attempted  to  be  connected, 
with  that  great  struggle ;  but  they  were  mere  col- 
lateral questions,  not  affecting  the  main  point.     My 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  131 

opposition  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution  rested 
solely  upon  the  fact  that  it  was  not  the  act  and  deed 
of  that  people,  and  that  it  did  not  embody  their  will. 
I  did  not  object  to  it  upon  the  ground  of  the  slavery 
clause  contained  in  it.  I  should  have  resisted  it  with 
the  same  energy  and  determination  even  if  it  had 
been  a  free  State  instead  of  a  slave  holding  State; 
and  so  as  an  evidence  of  this  fact  I  wish  you  to  bear 
in  mind  that  my  speech  against  that  Lecompton  Act 
was  made  on  the  9th  day  of  December,  nearly  two 
weeks  before  the  vote  was  taken  on  the  acceptance 
or  rejection  of  the  slavery  clause.  I  did  not  then 
know,  whether  the  slavery  clause  would  be  accepted 
or  rejected ;  the  general  impression  was  that  it  would 
be  rejected,  and  in  my  speech  I  assumed  that  im- 
pression to  be  true,  that  probably  it  would  be  voted 
down ;  and  then  I  said  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
as  I  now  proclaim  to  you,  my  constituents,  that  you 
have  no  more  right  to  force  a  free  State  upon  an 
unwilling  people  than  you  have  to  force  a  slave  State 
upon  them  against  their  will.  You  have  no  right 
to  force  either  a  good  or  a  bad  thing  upon  a  people 
who  do  not  choose  to  receive  it.  And  then,  again. 
the  highest  privilege  of  our  people  is  to  determine 
for  themselves  what  kind  of  institutions  are  good 
and  what  kind  of  institutions  are  bad;  and  it  may 
be  true  that  the  same  people,  situated  in  a  different 
latitude  and  different  climate,  and  with  different 
productions  and  different  interests,  might  decide  the 


132  Abraham  Lincoln 

same  question  one  way  in  the  North  and  another 
way  in  the  South,  in  order  to  adapt  their  institutions 
to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  the  people  to  be  affected 
by  thetn. 

You  are  familiar  with  the  Lecompton  struggle, 
and  I  will  occupy  no  more  time  upon  the  subject, 
except  to  remark  that  when  we  drove  the  enemies  of 
the  principle  of  sovereignty  from  the  effort  to  force 
the  Lecompton  Constitution  upon  the  people  of 
Kansas,  and  when  we  compelled  them  to  abandon 
the  attempt  and  to  refer  that  Constitution  to  that 
people  for  acceptance  or  rejection,  we  obtained  a  con- 
cession of  the  principle  for  which  I  had  contended 
throughout  the  struggle.  When  I  saw  that  the  prin 
ciple  was  conceded,  and  that  the  Constitution  was 
not  to  be  forced  upon  Kansas  against  the  wishes  of 
the  people,  I  felt  anxious  to  give  the  proposition  my 
support;  but  when  I  examined  it,  I  found  that  the 
mode  of  reference  to  the  people  and  the  form  of 
submission,  upon  which  the  vote  was  taken,  was  so 
objectionable  as  to  make  it  unfair  and  unjust. 

Sir,  it  is  an  axiom  with  me  that  in  every  free  gov- 
ernment an  unfair  election  is  no  election  at  all. Every 
election  should  be  free,  should  be  fair,  with  the 
same  privilege  and  the  same  inducements  for  a 
negative  as  for  an  affirmative  vote.  The  objection 
to  what  is  called  the  "English5'  proposition  by  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  as  referred  back  to  the 
people  of  Kansas,  was  this:  that  if  the  people  chose 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  133 

to  accept  the  Lecompton  Constitution  they  could 
come  in  with  only  35,000  inhabitants;  while  if  they 
determined  to  reject  it,  in  order  to  form  another 
more  in  accordance  with  their  wishes  and  sentiments, 
they  were  compelled  to  stay  out  until  they  should 
have  93,420  inhabitants.  In  other  words,  it  was 
making  a  distinction  and  discrimination  between 
free  States  and  slave  States  under  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution. I  deny  the  justice,  I  deny  the  right,  of 
any  distinction  or  discrimination  between  the  States 
North  and  South,  free  or  slave.  Equality  among 
the  States  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  this  govern- 
ment. Hence,  while  I  will  never  consent  to  the  pas- 
sage of  a  law  that  a  slave  State  may  come  in  with 
35,000,  while  a  free  State  shall  not  come  in  unless 
it  have  93,000,  on  the  other  hand,  I  shall  not  consent 
to  admit  a  free  State  with  a  population  of  35,000, 
and  require  93,000  in  a  slave-holding  State. 

My  principle  is  to  recognize  each  State  of  the 
Union  as  independent,  sovereign,  and  equal  in  its 
sovereignty.  I  will  apply  that  principle,  not  only 
to  the  original  thirteen  States,  but  to  the  States  which 
have  since  been  brought  into  the  Union,  and  also  to 
every  State  that  shall  hereafter  be  received,  "as  long 
as  water  shall  run,  and  grass  grow."  For  these 
reasons  I  felt  compelled,  by  a  sense  of  duty,  by  a 
conviction  of  principle,  to  record  my  vote  against 
the  English  bill ;  but  yet  the  bill  became  a  law,  and 
under  that  law  an  election  has  been  ordered  to  be 


134  Abraham  Lincoln 

held  on  the  first  Monday  in  August,  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  the  question  of  the  acceptance  or  re- 
jection of  the  proposition  submitted  by  Congress. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  to  you,  as  the  chair- 
man of  your  committee  has  justly  said  in  his  address, 
that  whatever  the  decision  of  the  people  of  Kansas 
may  be  at  that  election,  it  must  be  final  and  conclu- 
sive of  the  whole  subject;  for  if  at  that  election  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  Kansas  shall  vote  for  the 
acceptance  of  the  Congressional  proposition,  Kansas 
from  that  moment  becomes  a  State  of  the  Union, 
the  law  admitting  her  becomes  irreparable,  and  thus 
the  controversy  terminates  forever;  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  people  of  Kansas  shall  vote    down   that 
proposition,  as  it  is   now    generally   admitted    they 
will,  by  a  large  majority,  then  from  that  instant  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  is  dead, — dead  beyond  the 
power  of  resurrection;    and    thus    the    controversy 
terminates.      And   when   the   monster   shall   die,    I 
shall  be  willing,  and  trust  that  all  of  you  will  be  will- 
ing, to  acquiesce  in  the   death    of    the    Lecompton 
Constitution.      The   controversy  may   now   be  con- 
sidered as  terminated,  for  in  three  weeks  from  now 
it  will  be  finally  settled,  and  all  the  ill-feeling,  all  the 
embittered  feeling  which  grew  out  of  it  shall  cease, 
unless  an  attempt  should  be  made  in  the  future  to 
repeat  the  same  outrage  upon  the  popular  rights. 
I  need  not  to  tell  you  that  my  past  course  is  a  suffi- 
cient guaranty  that  if  the  occasion  shall  ever  arise 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  135 

again  while  I  occupy  a  seat  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  you  will  find  me  carrying  out  the  same  prin- 
ciple that  I  have  this  winter  with  all  my  energy  and 
all  the  power  I  may  be  able  to  command.  I  have 
the  gratification  of  saying  to  you  that  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  that  controversy  will  ever  arise  again : 
firstly,  because  the  fate  of  Lecompton  is  a  warning 
to  the  people  of  every  Territory  and  of  every  State 
to  be  cautious  how  the  example  is  repeated;  and, 
secondly,  because  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
in  his  annual  message,  has  said  that  he  trusts  the 
example  in  the  Minnesota  case,  wherein  Congress 
passed  a  law,  called  the  Enabling  Act,  requiring  the 
Constitution  to  be  submitted  to  the  people  for  ac- 
ceptance or  rejection,  will  be  followed  in  all  future 
cases  ["That  was  right."]  I  agree  with  you  that  it 
was  right.  I  said  so  on  the  day  after  the  message 
was  delivered  in  my  speech  in  the  Senate  on  the 
Lecompton  Constitution,  and  I  have  frequently  in 
my  speech  in  the  Senate  on  the  Lecompton  Consti- 
tution, and  I  have  frequently  in  the  debate  ten- 
dered to  the  President  and  his  friends,  tendered  to 
the  Lecomptonites,  my  voluntary  pledge,  that  if  he 
will  stand  by  that  recommendation,  and  they  will 
stand  by  it,  they  will  find  me  working  hand  in  hand 
with  them  in  the  effort  to  carry  it  out.  All  we  have 
to  do,  therefore,  is  to  adhere  firmly  in  future,  as 
we  have  done  in  the  past,  to  the  principle  contained 
in  the  recommendation  of  the  President  in  his  an- 


136  Abraham  Lincoln 

nual  message,  that  the  example  in  the  Minnesota 
case  shall  be  carried  out  in  all  future  cases  of  the 
admission  of  Territories  into  the  Union  as  States. 
Let  that  be  done,  and  the  principle  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty will  be  maintained  in  all  its  vigor  and  all 
of  its  integrity.  I  rejoice  to  know  that  Illinois 
stands  prominently  and  proudly  forward  among  the 
States  which  first  took  their  position  firmly  and  im- 
movably upon  this  principle  of  popular  sovereignty 
applied  to  the  Territories  as  well  as  the  States.  You 
all  recollect  when  in  1850,  the  peace  of  the  country 
was  disturbed  in  consequence  of  the  agitation  of  the 
slavery  question,  and  the  effort  to  force  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  upon  all  the  Territories,  that  it  required  all 
the  talent  and  all  the  energy,  all  the  wisdom,  all  the 
patriotism,  of  a  Clay  and  Webster,  united  with  other 
great  leaders,  to  devise  a  system  of  measures  by 
which  peace  and  harmony  could  be  restored  to  our 
distracted  country.  Those  compromise  measures 
eventually  passed,  and  were  recorded  on  the  statute 
book,  not  only  as  the  settlement  of  the  then  existing 
difficulties,  but  as  furnishing  a  rule  of  action  which 
should  prevent  in  all  future  time  the  recurrence  of 
like  evils,  if  they  were  firmly  and  fairly  carried  out. 
Those  compromise  measures  rested,  as  I  advised  in 
my  speech  at  Chicago  on  my  return  home  that  year, 
upon  the  [principle  that  every  people  ought  to  have 
the  right  to  form  and  regulate  their  own     domestic 


'Early  Days  in  Illinois  137 

institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the 
Constitution.  They  were  founded  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that  while  every  State  possessed  that  right 
under  the  Constitution,  that  the  same  right  ought  to 
be  extended  to  and  exercised  by  the  people  of  the 
Territories.  When  the  Illinois  Legislature  as- 
sembled, a  few  months  after  the  adoption  of  these 
measures,  the  first  thing  the  members  did  was  to  re- 
view their  action  upon  the  slavery  agitation,  and  to 
correct  the  errors  into  which  their  predecessors  had 
fallen.  You  remember  that  thdr  first  act  was  to 
repeal  the  Wilmot  Proviso  instructions  to  our  United 
States  Senators,  which  had  been  previously  passed, 
and  in  lieu  of  them  to  record  another  resolution  upon 
the  journal,  with  which  you  must  all  be  familiar, — 
a  resolution  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Ninian  Ed- 
wards, and  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
by  a  vote  of  61  in  the  affirmative  to  4  in  the  nega- 
tive. That  resolution  I  can  quote  to  you  in  almost 
its  precise  language.  It  declared  that  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  self-government  was  the  birth-right  of  free- 
men, was  the  gift  of  Heaven,  was  achieved  by  the 
blood  of  our  revolutionary  fathers,  and  must  be  con- 
tinued and  carried  out  in  the  organization  of  all  the 
Territories  and  admission  of  all  New  States.  That 
became  the  Illinois  platform  by  the  united  voices  of 
the  Democratic  party  and  of  the  Whig  party  in 
1851;  all  the  Whigs  and  all  the  Democrats  in  the 
Legislature  uniting  in  an  affirmative  vote  upon  it, 


138  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  there  being  only  four  votes  in  the  negative, — 
of  Abolitionists,  of  course.  That  resolution  stands 
upon  the  journal  of  your  Legislature  to  this  day  and 
hour  unrepealed,  as  a  standing,  living,  perpetual 
instruction  to  the  Senators  from  Illinois  in  all  time 
to  come  to  carry  out  the  principle  of  self-govern- 
ment, and  allow  no  limitation  upon  it  in  the  organi- 
zation of  any  Territories  or  the  admission  of  any 
new  States.  In  1854,  when  it  became  my  duty  as 
the  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Territories  to 
bring  forward  a  bill  for  the  organization  of  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  incorporated  that  principle  in  it,  and 
Congress  passed  it,  thus  carrying  the  principle  into 
practical  effect.  I  will  not  recur  to  these  scenes  which 
took  place  all  over  the  country  in  1854,  when  that 
Nebraska  Bill  passed.  I  could  then  travel  from  Bos- 
ton to  Chicago  by  the  light  of  my  own  effigies,  in 
consequence  of  having  stood  up  for  it.  I  leave  it 
to  you  to  say  how  I  met  that  storm,  and  whether 
I  quailed  under  it;  whether  I  did  not  "face  the 
music,"  justify  the  principle,  and  pledge  my  life 
to  carry  it  out. 

A  friend  here  reminds  me,  too,  that  when  making 
speeches  then,  justifying  the  Nebraska  Bill  and  the 
great  principle  of  self-government,  that  I  predicted 
that  in  less  than  five  years  you  would  have  to  get 
out  a  search-warrant  to  find  an  anti-Nebraska  man. 
Well,  I  believe  I  did  make  that  prediction.  I  did  not 
claim  the  power  of  a  prophet,  but  it  occurred  to  me 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  139 

that  among  a  free  people,  and  an  honest  people,  and 
an  intelligent  people,  that  five  years  were  long  enough 
for  them  to  come  to  an  understanding  that  the  great 
principle  of  self-government  was  right,  not  only  in 
the  States  but  in  the  Territories.  I  rejoiced  this 
year  to  see  my  prediction,  in  that  respect,  carried  out 
and  fulfilled  by  a  unanimous  vote,  in  one  form  or 
another,  of  both  Houses  of  Congress.  If  you  will 
remember  that  pending  this  Lecompton  controversy 
that  gallant  old  Roman,  Kentucky's  favorite  son, 
the  worthy  successor  of  the  immortal  Clay, — I  allude, 
as  you  know,  to  the  gallant  John  J.  Crittenden — 
brought  forward  a  bill,  now  known  as  the  Critten- 
den-Montgomery bill,  in  which  it  was  proposed  that 
the  Lecompton  Constitution  should  be  referred  back 
to  the  people  of  Kansas,  to  be  decided  for  or  against 
it,  at  a  fair  election,  and  if  the  majority  were  in 
favor  of  it,  that  Kansas  should  come  into  the  Union 
as  a  slave  holding  state,  but  that  if  the  majority 
were  against  it,  that  they  should  make  a  new  con- 
stitution, and  come  in  with  slavery  or  without  it,  as 
they  thought  proper.  ("That  was  right.")  Yes,  my 
dear  sir,  it  was  not  only  right,  but  it  was  carrying 
out  the  principle  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  in  its  letter 
and  in  its  spirit.  Of  course  I  voted  for  it,  and  so  did 
every  Republican  Senator  and  Representative  in 
Congress.  I  have  found  some  Democrats  so  per- 
fectly straight  that  they  blame  me  for  voting  for 
the1  principle  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  because  the  Re- 


140  Abraham  Lincoln 

publicans  voted  the  same  way.  (Great  laughter, 
'what  did  they  say.") 

What  did  he  say?  Why,  many  of  them  said  that 
Douglas  voted  with  the  Republicans.  Yes,  not  only 
that,  but  with  the  black  Republicans.  Well,  there 
are  different  modes  of  stating  that  proposition. The 
New  York  Tribune  says  that  Douglas  did  not  vote 
with  the  Republicans,  but  that  on  that  question  the 
Republicans  went  over  to  Douglas  and  voted  with 
him. 

My  friends,I  have  never  yet  abandoned  a  principle 
because  of  the  support  I  found  men  yielding  to  it, 
and  I  shall  never  abandon  my  Democratic  principles 
merely  because  Republicans  come  to  them.  For 
what  do  we  travel  over  the  country  and  make  speech- 
es in  every  political  canvass,  if  it  is  not  to  enlighten 
the  minds  of  the  Republicans,  to  remove  the  scales 
from  their  eyes,  and  to  impart  to  them  the  light  of 
Democratic  vision,  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  carry 
out  the  Constitution  of  our  country  as  our  fathers 
made  it.  And  if  by  preaching  our  principles  to  the 
people  we  succeed  in  convincing  the  Republicans  of 
the  errors  of  their  ways,  and  bring  them  over  to  us, 
are  we  bound  to  turn  traitors  to  our  principles  mere- 
ly because  they  give  them  support?  All  I  have 
to  say  is  that  I  hope  the  Republican  party  will  stand 
firm  in  the  future,  by  the  vote  they  gave  the  Crit- 
tenden-Montgomery bill.  I  hope  we  will  find,  in  the 
resolutions  of  their  country  and  Congressional  con- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  141 

ventions  of  "no  more  Slave  States  to  be  admitted 
into  this  Union,"  but  in  lieu  of  that  declaration  that 
we  will  find  the  principle  that  the  people  of  every 
State  and  every  Territory  shall  come  into  the  Union 
with  slavery  or  without  it,  just  as  they  please  with- 
out any  interference  on  the  part  of  Congress. 

My  friends,  whilst  I  was  at  Washington,  en- 
gaged in  this  great  battle  for  sound  constitutional 
principles,  I  find  from  the  newspapers  that  the  Re- 
publican party  of  this  State  assembled  in  State  Con- 
vention, and  not  only  nominated,  as  it  was  wise  and 
proper  for  them  to  do,  a  man  for  my  successor  in 
the  Senate,  but  laid  down  a  platform,  and  their 
nominee  made  a  speech,  carefully  written  and  pre- 
pared, and  well  delivered,  which  that  Convention 
accepted  as  containing  the  Republican  creed.  I  have 
no  comment  to  make  on  that  part  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
speech  in  which  he  represents  me  as  forming  a  con- 
spiracy with  the  Supreme  Court,  and  with  the  late 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the  present  chief 
magistrate,  having  for  my  object  the  passage  of  the 
Nebraska  Bill,  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery, — a  scheme*  of  political  tricksters, 
composed  of  Chief  Justice  Taney  and  his  eight  as- 
sociates, two  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  and 
one  Senator  of  Illinois.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  deems  me 
a  conspirator  of  that  kind,  all  I  have  to  say  is  that  I 
do  not  think  so  badly  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 


142  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  highest  judicial  tribunal  on  earth,  as  to  believe 
that  they  were  capable  in  their  action  and  decision 
of  entering  into  political  intrigues  for  partisan  pur- 
poses. I  therefore  shall  only  notice  those  parts  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  in  which  he  lays  down  his 
platform  of  principles,  and  tells  you  what  he  intends 
to  do  if  he  is  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  An  old  gentleman  here  rose  on  the  platform 
and  said:  ["Be  particular  now,  judge,  be  particu- 
lar."] 

Mr.  Douglas :  My  venerable  friend  here  says  that 
he  will  be  gratified  if  I  will  be  particular;  and  in 
order  that  I  may  be  so,  I  will  read  the  language  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  reported  by  himself  and  published 
to  the  country.  Mr.  Lincoln  lays  down  his  main 
proposition   in  these   words: 

"  'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand'.  I 
believe  this  Union  cannot  endure  permanently  half 
free  and  half  slave.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  will 
be  dissolved,  I  do  not  expect  the-  house  to  fall;  but 
I  do  expect  it  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing  or  all  the  other." 

Mr.  Lincoln  does  not  think  this  Union  can  con- 
tinue to  exist  composed  of  half  slave  and  half  free 
States ;  they  must  all  be  free  or  all  slave.  I  do  not 
doubt  that  he  thinks  it  is  the  highest  duty  of  every 
patriotic  citizen  to  preserve  this  glorious  Union,  and 
to  adopt  these  measures  as  necessary  to  its  preserva- 
tion.   He  tells  you  that  the  only  mode  to  preserve  the 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  143 

Union  is  to  make  all  the  States  free,  or  all  slave.  Il 
must  be  the  one  or  it  must  be  the  other.  Now,  that 
being  essential,  in  his  estimation,  to  the  preservation 
of  this  glorious  Union,  how  is  he  going  to  accom- 
plish it  ?  He  says  that  he  wants  to  go  to  the  Senate 
in  order  to  carry  out  this  favorite  patriotic  policy 
of  his  making  all  the  States  free,  so  that  the  house 
shall  no  longer  be  divided  against  itself.  When  he 
gets  to  the  Senate,  by  what  means  is  he  going  to 
accomplish  it?  By  an  Act  of  Congress?  Will  he 
contend  that  Congress  has  any  power  under  the 
Constitution  to  abolish  slavery  in  any  State  of  the 
Union,  or  to  interfere  with  it  directly  or  indirectly? 
Of  course  he  will  not  contend  that.  Then  what  is 
his  mode  of  carrying  out  his  principle,  by  which 
slavery  shall  be  abolished  in  the  States?  Mr.  Lin- 
coln certainly  does  not  speak  at  random.  He  is  a 
lawyer, — an  eminent  lawyer, — and  his  profession  is 
to  know  the  remedy  for  every  wrong.  What  is  his 
remedy  for  this  imaginary  wrong  which  he  supposes 
to  exist?  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
provides  that  it  may  be  amended  by  Congress  passing 
an  amendment  by  a  two-thirds  majority  of  each 
house,  which  shall  be  ratified  by  three-fourths  of 
the  States;  and  the  inference  that  Mr.  Lincoln  in- 
tends to  carry  this  slavery  agitation  into  Congress 
with  the  view  of  amending  the  Constitution  so  that 
slavery  can  be  abolished  in  all  the  States  of  the 
Union.    In  other  words,  he  is  not  going  to  allow  one 


144  Abraham  Lincoln 

portion  of  the  Union  to  be  slave  and  another  portion 
to  be  free ;  he  is  not  going  to  permit  the  house  to  be 
divided  against  itself.  He  is  going  to  remedy  it  by 
lawful  and  constitutional  means.  What  are  to  be 
these  means?  How  can  he  abolish  slavery  in  those 
States  where  it  exists?  There  is  but  one  mode  by 
which  a  political  organization,  composed  of  men  in 
the  free  States,  can  abolish  slavery  in  the  slave- 
holding  States,  and  that  would  be  to  abolish  the  State 
legislatures,  blot  out  of  existence  the  State  sov- 
ereignties, invest  Congress  with  full  and  plenary 
power  over  all  the  local  and  domestic  and  police 
regulations  of  the  different  States  of  this  Union. 
Then  there  would  be  uniformity  in  the  local  concerns 
and  domestic  institutions  of  the  different  States ;  then 
the  house  would  be  no  longer  divided  against  itself; 
then  the  States  would  be  free,  or  they  would  be  slave ; 
then  you  would  have  uniformity  prevailing  through- 
out this  whole  land  in  the  local  and  domestic  insti- 
tutions; but  it  would  be  a  uniformity,  not  of  liberty, 
but  a  uniformity  of  despotism  that  would  triumph. 
I  submit  to  you,  my  fellow  citizens,  whether  this 
is  not  the  logical  consequence  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  prop- 
position?  I  have  called  on  Mr.  Lincoln  to  explain 
what  he  did  mean,  if  he  did  not  mean  this,  and  he 
has  made  a  speech  at  Chicago  in  which  he  attempts 
to  explain.  And  how  does  he  explain  ?  I  will  give 
him  the  benefit  of  his  own  language,  precisely  as 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  145 

it  was  reported  in  the  Republican  papers  of  that  city, 
after  undergoing  his  revision: 

"I  have  said  a  hundred  times,  and  have  now  no 
inclination  to  take  it  back,  that  I  believe  there  is  no 
right  and  ought  to  be  no  inclination  in  the  people  of 
the  free  States  to  enter  into  the  Slave  States  and 
interfere  with  the  question  of  slavery  at  all." 

He  believes  there  is  no  right  on  the  part  of  the 
free  people  of  the  free  States  to  enter  into  the 
slave  States  and  interfere  with  the  question  of  slav- 
ery; hence  he  does  not  prepare  to  go  to  Kentucky 
and  stir  up  a  civil  war  and  a  servile  war  between 
the  blacks  and  the  whites  .  All  he  proposes  is  to  in- 
vite the  people  of  Illinois  and  every  other  free 
State  to  band  together  as  one  sectional  party,  gov- 
erned and  divided  by  geographical  line,  to  make  war 
upon  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  slave  holding 
States.  He  is  going  to  carry  it  out  by  means 
of  a  political  party  that  has  its  adherents  only  in 
the  free  States,  a  political  party  that  does  not  pretend 
that  it  can  give  a  solitary  vote  in  the  slave  States  of 
the  Union ;  and  by  this  sectional  vote  he  is  going  to 
elect  a  President  of  the  United  States,  form  a  cabinet 
and  administer  the  government  on  sectional  grounds, 
being  the  power  of  the  North  over  that  of  the  South. 
In  other  words,  he  invites  a  war  of  the  North 
against  the  slave-holding  States.  He  asks  all  men 
against  the   South,     a  warfare  of  the  free  States 


146  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  the  free  States  to  conspire  to  exterminate  slavery 
in  the  Southern  States,  so  as  to  make  them  all  free 
and  then  notifies  the  South  that, unless  they  are  go- 
ing to  submit  to  our  efforts  to  exterminate  institu- 
tions, they  must  band  together  and  plant  slavery 
in  Illinois  and  every  Northern  State.  He  says  that 
the  states  must  all  be  free  or  all  slave.  On  this 
point  I  take  issue}  with  him  directly.  I  assert  that 
Illinois  has  a  right  to  decide  the  slavery  question 
for  herself.  We  have  decided  it,  and  I  think  we 
have  done  so  wisely;  but  whether  wisely  or  unwise- 
ly, it  is  our  business,  and  the  people  of  no  other  State 
have  any  right  to  interfere  with  us,  directly  or  in- 
directly. Claiming  as  we  do  this  right  for  ourselves, 
we  must  concede  it  to  every  other  State,  to  be  ex- 
ercised by  them  respectively. 

Now  Mr.  Lincoln  says  that  he  will  not  enter  into 
Kentucky  to  abolish  slavery  there,  but  that  all  he 
will  do  is  to  fight  slavery  in  Kentucky  from  Illinois. 
He  will  not  go  over  there  to  set  fire  to  the  match. 
I  do  not  think  he  would.  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  very  pru- 
dent man.  He  would  not  deem  it  wise  to  go  over  in- 
to Kentucky  to  stir  up  strife,  but  would  do  it  from 
this  side  of  the  river.  Permit  me  to  inquire  whether 
the  wrong,  the  outrage,  of  interference  by  one  State 
with  the  local  concerns  of  another  is  worse  when  you 
actually  invade  them  than  it  would  be  if  you  carried 
on  the  warfare  from  another  State?  For  the  pur- 
pose of  illustration,  suppose  the  British  government 


'Early  Days  in  Illinois  147 

should  plant  a  battery  on  INPiagra  River  opposite-  Buf- 
falo, and  throw  their  shells  over  into  Buffalo,where 
they  would  explode  and  blow  up  the  houses  and  de- 
stroy the  town.  We  call  the  British  Government  to 
an  account,  and  they  say,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. We  did  not  enter  into  the  limits  of  the  United 
States  to  interfere  with  you;  we  planted  the  bat- 
tery on  our  soil;  and  if  our  shells  and  balls  fell  in 
Buffalo  and  killed  your  inhabitants,  why,  it  is  your 
lookout,  not  ours.  Thus,  Mr.  Lincoln  is  going  to 
plant  his  abolition  batteries  along  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  River  and  throw  his  shells  into  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  and  into  Missouri,  and  blow  up  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery;  and  when  we  arraign  him  for 
his  unjust  interference  with  the  institutions  of  the 
other  States,  he  says,  why,  I  never  did  enter  into 
Kentucky  to  interfere  with  her ;  I  do  not  propose  to 
do  it ;  I  only  propose  to  take  care  of  my  own  head  by 
keeping  on  this  side  of  the  river,  out  of  harm's  way. 
But  yet  he  says  he  is  going  to  preserve  the 
Union  in  this  system  of  sectional  warfare  and 
I  have  no  doubt  he  is  sincere  in  what  he  says. 
He  says  that  the  existence  of  the  Union  de- 
pends upon  his  success  in  firing  into  these 
slave  States  until  he  exterminates  them.  He 
says  that  unless  he  shall  play  his  batteries  successful- 
ly so  as  to  abolish  slavery  in  every  one  of  the 
States  that  the  Union  shall  be  dissolved;  and  he 
says  that  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  be  a 


148  Abraham  Lincoln 

terrible  calamity.  Of  course  it  would.  We  are  all 
friends  of  the  Union.  We  all  believe — I  do — that 
our  lives,  our  liberties,  our  hopes  in  the  future,  de- 
pend upon  the  preservation  and  perpetuity  of  this 
glorious  Union.  I  believe  that  the  hopes  of  the 
friends  of  liberty  throughout  the  world  depend  upon 
the  perpetuity  of  the  American  Union.  But  while 
I  believe  that,  my  mode  of  preserving  the  Union  is 
a  very  different  one  from  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln :  I 
believe  that  the  Union  can  only  be  preserved  by 
maintaining  inviolate  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  as  our  fathers  have  made  it.  That  Consti- 
tution guarantees  to  the  people  of  every  state  the 
right  to  have  slavery  or  not  have  it ;  to  have  negroes 
or  not  have  them ;  to  have  Maine  liquor  laws  or  not 
to  have  them ;  to  have  just  such  institutions  as  they 
choose,  each  State  being  left  free  to  decide  for 
itself.  The  framers  of  that  Constitution  never  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  uniformity  in  the  Domestic 
institutions  of  the  different  States  was  either  desir- 
able or  possible.  They  well  understood  that  the 
laws  and  institutions  which  would  be  well  adapted 
to  the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire  would  be 
unfit  for  the  rice  plantations  of  South  Carolina; 
they  well  understood  that  each  one  of  the  thirteen 
States  had  distinct  and  separate  local  laws  and  local 
institutions.  And  in  view  of  that  fact  they  provided 
that  each  state  should  retain  its  sovereign  power  with- 
in its  own  limits,  with  the  right  to  make  just  such 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  149 

laws  and  just  such  institutions  as  it  saw  proper, 
under  the  belief  that  no  two  of  them  would  be  alike. 
If  they  had  supposed  that  uniformity  was  desirable 
and  possible,  why  did  they  not  provide  for  a  sep- 
arate Legislature  for  each  State?  Why  did  they  not 
blot  out  State  Sovereignty  and  State  Legislatures,  and 
give  all  the  power  to  Congress,  in  order  that  the 
laws  might  be  uniform?  For  the  very  reason  that 
uniformity,  in  their  opinion,  was  neither  desirable 
nor  possible.  We  have  increased  from  thirteen 
States  to  thirty-two  States;  and  just  in  proportion 
as  the  number  of  States  increases  and  our  territory 
expands,  there  will  be  a  still  greater  variety  and 
dissimilarity  of  climate,  of  production,  and  of  in- 
terest, requiring  a  corresponding  dissimilarity  and 
variety  in  the  local  laws  and  institutions  adapted 
thereto.  The  laws  that  are  necessary  in  the  mining- 
regions  of  California  would  be  totally  useless  and 
vicious  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois,  the  laws  that 
would  suit  the  lumber  regions  of  Maine  or  of  Min- 
nesota would  be  totally  useless  and  valueless  in  the 
tobacco  regions  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky;  the  laws 
which  would  suit  the  manufacturing  districts  of 
New  England  would  be  totally  unsuited  to  the  plant- 
ing regions  of  the  Carolinas,  of  Georgia  and  of 
Louisiana.  Each  State  is  supposed  to  have  inter- 
ests separate  and  distinct  from  each  and  every  other 
State,  in  order  that  its  laws  shall  be  adapted  to  the 
condition  and  necessities  of  the  people.     Plence  I 


150  Abraham  Lincoln 

insist  that  our  institutions  rest  on  the  theory  that 
there  shall  be  dissimilarity  and  variety  in  the  local 
laws  and  institutions  of  the  different  States,  in- 
stead of  all  being  uniform;  and  you  find,  my 
friends,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  myself  differ  radically 
and  totally  on  the  fundamental  principles  of  this 
government.  He  goes  for  consolidation,  for  uni- 
formity in  our  local  institutions,  for  blotting  out 
State  rights  and  State  sovereignty,and  consolidating 
all  the  power  in  the  Federal  Government,  for  con- 
verting these  thirty-two  sovereign  States  into  one 
empire,  and  making  uniformity  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  go  for  maintaining  and  preserving  the  sovereignty 
of  each  and  all  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  in  order 
that  each  State  may  regulate  and  adopt  its  own  local 
institutions  in  its  own  way,  without  interference 
from  any  power  whatsoever.  Thus  you  find  there 
is  a  distinct  issue  of  principles — principles  irrecon- 
cilable— between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  myself.  He  goes 
for  consolidation  and  uniformity  in  our  government ; 
I  go  for  maintaining  the  confederation  of  the  sov- 
ereign States  under  the  Constitution  as  our  fathers 
made  it,  leaving  each  State  at  liberty  to  manage  its 
own  affairs  and  own  internal  institutions. 

Mr.  Lincoln  makes  another  point  upon  me,  and 
rests  his  whole  case  upon  these  two  points.  His 
last  point  is,  that  he  will  wage  a  warfare  upon  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  because  of  the 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  151 

Dred  Scott  decision.  He  takes  occasion  in  his  speech 
made  before  the  Republican  Convention  in  my  ab- 
sence to  arraign  me  not  only  for  having  expressed  my 
acquiescence  in  that  decision,  but  to  charge  me  with 
being  a  conspirator  with  that  court  in  devising  that 
decision  three  years  before  Dred  Scott  ever  thought 
of  commencing  a  suit  for  his  freedom.  The  object 
of  his  speech  was  to  convey  the  idea  to  the  people 
that  the  court  could  not  be  trusted ;  that  they  were  all 
conspirators  in  bringing  about  that  corrupt  decision, 
to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  is  determined  he  will  never 
yield  a  willing  obedience. 

He  makes  two  points  upon  the  Dred  Scott  decision. 
The  first  is  that  he  objects  to  it  because  the  court  de- 
cided that  negroes  descended  of  slave  parents  are 
not  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and  secondly,  be- 
cause they  have  decided  that  the  act  of  Congress, 
passed  8th  of  March,  1820,  prohibiting  slavery  in 
all  of  the  Territories  north  of  36  degrees  30  mins. 
was  unconstitutional  and  void,  and  hence  did  not 
have  effect  in  emancipating  a  slave  brought  into  that 
Territory.  And  he  will  not  submit  to  that  decision. 
He  says  that  he  will  not  fight  the  Judges  or  the 
United  States  Marshals  in  order  to  liberate  Dred 
Scott,  but  that  he  will  not  respect  that  decision,  as 
a  rule  of  law  binding  on  this  country  in  the  future. 
Why  not?  Because,  he  says,  it  is  unjust.  How  is  he 
going  to  remedy  it  ?  Why,  he  says  he  is  going  to  re- 
verse it.  How?  He  is  going  to  take  an  appeal.  To 


152  Abraham  Lincoln 

whom  is  he  going  to  appeal  ?  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  provides  that  the  Supreme  Court  is 
the  ultimate  tribunal,  the  highest  judicial  tribunal 
on  earth,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  is  going  to  appeal  from  that 
to  whom?  I  know  he  appealed  to  the  Republican 
State  Convention  of  Illinois,  and  I  believe  that  Con- 
vention reversed  the  decision,  but  I  am  not  aware 
that  they  have  yet  carried  it  into  effect.  How  are 
they  going  to  make  that  reversal  effectual?  Why, 
Mr.  Lincoln  tells  us  in  his  late  Chicago  speech.  He 
explains  it  as  clear  as  light.  He  says  to  the  people 
of  Illinois  that  if  you  elect  him  to  the  Senate  he  will 
introduce  a  bill  to  re-enact  the  law  which  the  Court 
pronounced  unconstitutional.  (Shouts  of  laughter, 
and  voices,  "Spot  the  law").  Yes,  he  is  going  to 
spot  the  law.  The  court  pronounces  that  law,  prohib- 
iting slavery,  unconstitutional  and  void,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  is  going  to  pass  an  act  reversing  that  decision 
and  making  it  valid.  I  never  before  heard  of  an  ap- 
peal being  taken  from  the  Supreme  Court  to  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  to  reverse  its  decision. 
I  have  heard  of  appeals  being  taken  from  Congress 
to  the  Supreme  Court  to  declare  a  statute  void.  That 
has  been  done  from  the  earliest  days  of  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  down  to  the  present  time. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  do  not  hesitate  to 
pronounce  an  act  of  the  Legislature  void,  as  being 
repugnant  to  the  Constitution,  and  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  is  vested  by  the  Constitu- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  153 

tion  with  that  power.  The  Constitution  says  that  the 
Judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  such  inferior  courts  as 
Congress  shall,  from  time  to  time,  ordain  and  estab- 
lish. Hence  it  is  the  province  and  duty  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to  pronounce  judgment  on  the  val- 
idity and  constitutionality  of  an  act  of  Congress.  In 
this  case  they  have  done  so,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  will  not 
submit  to  it,  and  he  is  going  to  reverse  it  by  an- 
other act  of  Congress  of  the  same  tenor.  My  opin- 
ion is  that  Mr.  Lincoln  ought  to  be  on  the  Supreme 
bench  himself,  when  the  Republicans  get  into  power 
if  that  kind  of  law  knowledge  qualifies  a  man  for 
the  bench.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  intimates  that  there  is 
another  mode  by  which  he  can  reverse  the  Dred 
Scott  decision.  How  is  that  ?  Why,  he  is  going  to 
appeal  to  the  people  to  elect  a  President  who  will 
appoint  judges  who  will  reverse  the  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision. Well,  let  us  see  how  that  is  done.  First, 
he  has  to  carry  on  his  sectional  organization,  a  party 
confined  to  the  free  States,  making  war  upon  the 
slave  holding4;  States,  until  he  gets  a  Republican 
President  elected.  ["He  never  will,  sir."]  I  do 
not  believe  he  ever  will.  But  suppose  he  should; 
when  that  Republican  President  shall  have  taken 
his  seat  (Mr.  Seward,  for  instance,)  will  he  then 
proceed  to  appoint  judges?  No!  he  will  have  to 
wait  until  the  present  judges  die  before  he  can  do 
that,  and  perhaps  his  four  years  would  be  out  be- 


154  Abraham  Lincoln 

fore  a  majority  of  these  judges  found  it  agreeable 
to  die;  and  it  is  very  possible,  too,  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's senatorial  term  would  expire  before  these 
judges  would  be  accommodating  enough  to  die.  If 
it  should  so  happen  I  do  not  see  a  very  great 
prospect  for  Mr.  Lincoln  to  reverse  the  Dred  Scott 
decision.  But  suppose  they  should  die,  then  how 
are  the  new  judges  to  be  appointed?  Why,  the 
Republican  President  is  to  call  upon  the  candidates 
and  catechise  them,  and  ask  them,  "How  will  you 
decide  this  case  if  I  appoint  you  judge?"  Suppose, 
for  instance,  Mr.  Lincoln  to  be  a  candidate  for  a 
vacancy  on  the  supreme  bench  to  fill  Chief  Justice 
Taney's  place,  and  when  he  applied  to  Seward, 
the  latter  would  say,  "Mr.  Lincoln,  I  cannot  appoint 
you  until  I  know  how  you  will  decide  the  Dred  Scott 
case?"  Mr.  Lincoln  tells  him,  and  then  asks  him 
how  he  will  decide  Tom  Jones's  cast  and  Bill  Wil- 
son's case,  and  thus  catechises  the  judge  as  to  how 
he  will  decide  any  case  which  may  arise  before  him. 
Suppose  you  get  a  Supreme  Court  composed  of  such 
judges,  who  have  been  appointed  by  a  partisan 
President  upon  giving  pledges  how  they  would  de- 
cide a  case  before  it  arose,  what  confidence  would 
you  have  in  such  a  court? 

Would  not  your  court  be  prostituted  beneath  the 
contempt  of  all  mankind?  What  man  would  feel 
that  his  liberties  were  safe,  his  right  of  person 
or  property  was  secure,  if  the  supreme  bench,  that 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  155 

august  tribunal,  the  highest  on  earth,  was  brought 
clown  to  that  low,  dirty  pool  wherein  the  judges  are 
to  give  pledges  in  advance  how  they  will  decide  all 
questions  which  may  be  brought  before  them?  It  is  a 
proposition  to  make  that  court  the  corrupt,  unscru- 
pulous tool  of  a  political  party.  But  Mr.  Lincoln 
cannot  conscientiously  submit,  he  thinks,  to  the  de- 
cision of  a  court  composed  of  a  majority  of  Demo- 
crats. Tf  he  cannot,  how  can  he  expect  us  to  have 
confidence  in  a  court  composed  of  a  majority  of 
Republicans,  selected  for  the  purpose  of  deciding 
the  against  Democracy  and  in  favor  of  the  Republi- 
cans? The  very  proposition  carries  with  it  the  de- 
moralization and  degradation  destructive  of  the  judi- 
cial department  of  the  Federal  Government. 

I  say  to  you,  fellow  citizens,  that  I  have  no  war- 
fare to  make  upon  the  Supreme  Court  because  of 
the  Dred  Scott  decision.  I  have  no  complaints  to 
make  against  that  court,  because  of  that  decision. 
My  private  opinion  on  some  points  of  the  case  may 
have  been  one  way  and  on  other  points  of  the  case 
another;  in  some  things  concurring  with  the  court 
and  in  others  dissenting,  but  what  have  my  private 
opinions  in  a  question  of  law  to  do  with  the  decision 
after  it  has  been  pronounced  by  the  highest  judicial 
tribunal  known  to  the  Constitution?  You,  sir  [ad- 
dressing the  chairman],  as  an  eminent  lawyer,  have 
a  right  to  entertain  your  opinions  on  any  question 
that  comes  before  the  court  and  to  appear  before 


156  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  tribunal  and  maintain  them  boldly  and  with 
tenacity  until  the  final  decision  shall  have  been  pro- 
nounced, and  then,  sir,  whether  you  are  sustained 
or  overruled  your  duty  as  a  lawyer  and  a  citizen  is 
to  bow  in  deference  to  that  decision.  I  intend  to 
yield  obedience  to  the  decisions  of  the  highest  tri- 
bunals in  the  land  in  all  cases  whether  their  opinions 
are  in  conformity  with  my  views  as  a  lawyer  or  not. 
When  we  refuse  to  abide  by  judicial  decisions  what 
protection  is  there  left  for  life  and  property?  To 
whom  shall  you  appeal?  To  mob  law,  to  partisan 
caucuses,  to  town  meetings,  to  revolution  ?  I  will 
not  stop  to  inquire  whether  I  agree  or  disagree  with 
all  the  opinions  expressed  by  Judge  Taney  or  any 
other  judge.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that 
the  decision  has  been  made.  It  has  been  made  by  a 
tribunal  appointed  by  the  Constitution  to  make  it ; 
it  was  a  point  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  I  am 
bound  by  it. 

But,  my  friends,  Mr.  Lincoln  says  that  this  Dred 
Scott  decision  destroys  the  doctrine  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty, for  the  reason  that  the  court  has  decided 
that  Congress  had  no  power  to  prohibit  slavery  in 
the  Territories,  and  hence  he  infers  that  it  would 
decide  that  the  Territorial  Legislatures  could  not  pro- 
hibit slavery  there.  I  will  not  stop  to  inquire  wheth- 
er the  court  will  carry  the  decision  that  far  or  not. 
It  would  be  interesting  as  a  matter  of  theory,  but 
of  no  importance  in  practice;  for  this  reason,  that 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  157 

if  the  people  of  a  Territory  want  slavery  they 
will  have  it,  and  if  they  do  not  want  it  they  will 
drive  it  out,  and  you  cannot  force  it  on  them. 
Slavery  cannot  exist  a  day  in  the  midst  of  an  un- 
friendly people  with  unfriendly  laws.  There  is 
truth  and  wisdom  in  a  remark  made  to  me  by  an 
eminent  Senator,  when  speaking  of  this  technical 
right  to  take  slaves  into  the  Territories.  Said  he, 
"I  do  not  care  a  fig  which  way  the  decision  shall 
be,  for  it  is  of  no  particular  consequence;  slavery 
cannot  exist  a  day  or  an  hour  in  any  Territory  or 
State  unless  it  has  affirmative  laws  sustaining  and 
supporting  it,  furnishing  police  regulations  and 
remedies,  and  an  omission  to  furnish  them  would 
be  fatal  as  a  constitutional  prohibition.  Without 
affirmative  legislation  in  its  favor  slavery  could 
not  exist  any  longer  than  a  new-born  infant 
could  survive  under  the  heat  of  the  sun,  on  a 
barren     rock,    with    out    protection.  It    would 

wilt  and  die  for  the  want  of  support."  So  it  would 
be  in  the  Territories.  See  the  illustration  in  Kansas. 
The  Republicans  have  told  you  during  the  whole 
history  of  that  Territory,  down  to  last  winter,  that 
the  pro-slavery  party  in  the  Legislature  had  passed 
a  pro-slavery  code,  establishing  and  sustaining  slav- 
ery in  Kansas,  but  that  this  pro-slavery  Legislature 
did  not  truly  represent  thel  people,  but  was  imposed 
upon  them  by  an  invasion  from  Missouri,  and  hence 
the  Legislature  were  only  one  way  and  the  people 


158  Abraham  Lincoln 

another.  Granting  all  this,  and  what  has  been  the 
result?  With  laws  supporting  slavery,  but  the  peo- 
ple against,  there  are  not  as  many  slaves  in  Kansas 
today  as  there  were  on  the  day  the  Nebraska  bill 
passed  and  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  repealed. 
Why?  Simply  because  slave  owners  knew  that  if 
they  took  their  slaves  into  Kansas,  where  a  majority 
of  the  people  were  opposed  to  slavery  that  it  would 
soon  be  abolished,  and  they  would  lose  their  right 
of  property  in  consequence  of  taking  them  there. 
For  that  reason  they  would  not  take  or  keep  them 
there.  If  there  had  been  a  majority  of  the  people 
in  favor  of  slavery  and  the  climate  had  been  favor- 
able, they  would  have  taken  them  there,  but  the  cli- 
mate not  being  suitable,  the  interest  of  the  people 
being  opposed  to  it,  and  a  majority  of  them  against 
it,  the  slave  owner  did  not  find  it  profitable  to  take 
his  slaves  theire,  and  consequently  there  are  not  as 
many  slaves  there  today  as  on  the  day  the  Missouri 
Compromise  was  repealed.  This  shows  clearly  that 
if  the  people  do  not  want  slavery  they  will  keep  it 
out,  and  if  they  do  want  it  they  will  protect  it. 

You  have  a  good  illustration  of  this  in  the  terri- 
torial history  of  this  State.  You  all  remember  that 
by  the  ordinance  of  1787,  slavery  was  prohibited  in 
Illinois,  yet  you  all  know,  particularly  you  old  settlers, 
who  were  here  in  territorial  times,  that  the  Territo- 
rial Legislature,  in  defiance  of  that  ordinance,  passed 
a  law  allowing  you  to  go  into  Kentucky,  buy  slaves 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  159 

and  bring  them  into  the  Territory,  having  them  sign 
indentures  to  serve  you  and  your  posterity  ninety- 
nine  years,  and  their  posterity  thereafter  to  do  the 
same.  This  heriditary  slavery  was  introduced  in  de- 
fiance of  an  act  of  Congress.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  people  of  a  Territory  are  hostile  to  slavery  they 
will  drive  it  out.  Consequently  this  theoretical 
question  raised  upon  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  is 
worthy  of  no  consideration  whatsoever,  for  it  is 
only  brought  into  these  political  discussions  and  us- 
ed as  a  hobby  upon  which  to  ride  into  office,  or  out 
of  which  to  manufacture  political  capital. 

But  Mr.  Lincoln's  main  objection  to  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  I  have  reserved  for  my  conclusion. 
His  principal  objection  to  that  decision  is  that  it  was 
intended  to  deprive  the  negro  of  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship in  the  different  States  of  the  union.  Well,  sup- 
pose it  was,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  that  was  its 
legal  effect,  that  is  the  objection  to  it?  Why,  he 
thinks  that  a  negro  ought  to  be  permitted  to  have  the 
rights  of  citizenship.  He  is  in  favor  of  negro  cit- 
izenship, and  opposed  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision, 
because  it  declares  that  a  negro  is  not  a  citizen,  and 
hence  is  not  entitled  to  vote.  Here  I  have  a  di- 
rect issue  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
negro  citizenship.  I  do  not  believe  that  a  negro  is  a 
citizen  or  ought  to  be  a  citizen.  I  believe  that  this 
Government  of  ours  was  founded,  upon  the  white 
basis.     It  was  made  by  white  men  for  the  benefit 


160  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  white  men  and  their  posterity,  to  be  executed  and 
managed  by  white  men.  I  freely  concede  that 
humanity  requires  us  to  extend  all  protection,  all 
the  privileges,  all  the  immunities  to  the  Indian  and 
the  negro  which  they  are  capable  of  enjoying  con- 
sistent with  the  safety  of  society.  You  may  then  ask 
me  what  are  those  rights,  what  is  the  nature  and  ex- 
tent of  the  rights  which  a  negro  ought  to  have?  My 
answer  is  that  this  is  a  question  for  each  State  and 
each  Territory  to  decide  for  itself.  In  Illinois  we 
have  decided  that  a  negro  is  not  a  slave,  but  we 
have  at  the  same  time  determined  that  he  is  not  a 
citizen  and  shall  not  enjoy  political  rights.  I  concur 
in  the  wisdom  of  that  policy  and  am  content  with  it. 
I  assert  that  the  sovereignty  of  Illinois  had  a  right 
to  determine  that  question  as  we  have  decided  it,  and 
I  deny  that  any  other  State  has  a  right  to  interfere 
with  us  or  call  us  to  account  for  that  decision.  In 
the  State  of  Maine  they  have  decided  by  their  Con- 
stitution that  the  negro  shall  exercise  the  elective  fran- 
chise and  hold  office  on  an  equality  with  the  white 
man.  Whilst  I  do  not  concur  in  the  good  sense  or 
correct  taste  of  that  decision  on  the  part  of  Maine, 
I  have  no  disposition  to  quarrel  with  her.  It  is  her 
business  and  not  ours.  If  the  people  of  Maine  de- 
sire to  be  put  on  an  equality  with  the  negro,  I  do 
not  know  that  anybody  in  this  State  will  attempt  to 
prevent  it.  If  the  white  people  of  Maine  think  a  negro 
their  equal,  and  that  he  has  a  right  to  come  and  kill 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  161 

their  vote  by  a  negro  vote,  they  have  a  right  to 
think  so,  I  suppose,  and  I  have  no  disposition  to  in- 
terfere with  them.  Then,  again,  passing  over  to 
New  York,  we  find  in  that  State  they  have  provid- 
ed that  a  negro  may  vote  provided  he  holds  $250.00 
worth  of  property,  but  that  he  shall  not  unless  he 
does;  that  is  to  say,  they  will  allow  a  negro  to  vote 
if  he  is  rich,  but  a  poor  fellow  they  will  not  allow  to 
vote.  In  New  York  they  think  a  rich  negro  is  equal 
to  a  white  man.  Well,  that  is  a  matter  of  taste  with 
them.  If  they  think  so  in  that  State,  and  do  not  carry 
the  doctrine  outside  of  it  and  propose  to  interfere 
with  us,  I  have  no  quarrel  to  make  with  them.  It  is 
their  business.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  philosophy 
and  good  sense  in  the  saying  of  Fridley  of  Kane. 
Fridley  had  a  law-suit  before  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  the  justice  decided  it  against  him.  This  he  did 
not  like,  and  standing  up  and  looking  at  the  justice 
for  a  moment,  "Well,  Squire",  said  he,  "if  a  man 
choose  to  make  a  darnation  fool  of  himself  I  sup- 
pose there  is  no  law  against  it".  That  is  all  I  have 
to  say  about  these  negro  regulations  and  this  negro 
voting  in  other  States  where  they  have  systems  dif- 
ferent from  ours.  If  it  is  their  wish  to  have  it  so, 
be  it  so.  There  is  no  cause  to  complain.  Ken- 
tucky has  decided  that  it  is  not  consistent  with  her 
safety  and  her  prosperity  to  allow  a  negro  to  have 
either  political  rights  or  his  freedom,  and  hence  she 


162  Abraham  Lincoln 

makes  him  a  slave.  That  is  her  business,  not  mine. 
It  is  her  right  under  the  Constitution  of  the  country. 
The  sovereignty  of  Kentucky,  and  that  alone,  can  de- 
cide that  question,  and  when  she  decides  it  there  is 
no  power  on  earth  to  which  you  can  appeal  to  reverse 
it.  Therefore,  leave  Kentucky  as  the  Constitution 
has  left  her,  sovereign,  independent  State,  with  the 
exclusive  right  to  have  slavery  or  not,  as  she  choos- 
es, and  so  long  as  I  hold  power  I  will  maintain  and 
defend  her  rights  against  any  assaults  from  whatso- 
ever quarter  they  may  come. 

I  will  never  stop  to  inquire  whether  I  approve  or 
disapprove  of  the  domestic  institutions  of  a  State. 
I  maintain  her  sovereign  rights.  I  defend  her  sov- 
ereignty from  all  assault,  in  the  hope  that  she  will 
join  in  defending  us  when  we  are  assailed  by  any 
outside  power.  How  are  we  to  protect  our  sov- 
ereign rights,  to  keep  slavery  out,  unless  we  protect 
the  sovereign  rights  to  every  other  State  to  decide 
the  question  for  itself.  Let  Kentucky,  or  South 
Carolina,  or  any  other  State  attempt  to  interfere  in 
Illinois,  and  tell  us  that  we  shall  establish  slavery, 
in  order  to  make  it  uniform,  according  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's proposition,  throughout  the  Union;  let  them 
come  here  and  tell  us  that  we  must  and  shall  have 
slavery,  and  I  will  call  on  you  to  follow  me,  and 
shed  the  last  drop  of  our  heart's  blood  in  repelling 
the  invasion  and  chastising  their  insolence.  And 
if  we  would  fight  for  our  reserved  rights  and  sov- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  163 

ereign  power  in  our  own  limits,  we  must  respect  the 
sovereignty  of  each  other  State. 

Hence,  you  find  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  myself  come 
to  a  direct  issue  on  whole  doctrine  of  slavery.  He 
is  going  to  wage  war  against  it  everywhere,  not  on- 
ly in  Illinois,  but  in  his  native  State  of  Kentucky. 
And  why?  Because  he  says  that  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  contains  this  language :  "We  hold 
these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are 
created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Crea- 
tor with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty  and  pursuit  of  happiness,''  and  he 
asks  whether  that  instrument  does  not  declare  that 
all  men  are  created  equal.  Mr.  Lincoln  then  goes 
on  to  say  that  that  clause  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence includes  negroes.  [I  say  not.]  Well, 
if  you  say  not,  I  do  not  think  you  will  vote  for  Mr. 
Lincoln.  Mr.  Lincoln  goes  on  to  argue  that  the 
language  "all  men"  included  the  negroes,  Indians, 
and  all  inferior  races. 

In  his  Chicago  speech  he  says,  in  so  many  words, 
that  it  includes  the  negroes,  that  they  were  endow- 
ed by  the  Almighty  with  the  right  of  equality  with 
the  white  man,  and  therefore  that  that  right  is 
Divine — a  right  under  the  higher  law;  that  the  law 
of  God  makes  them  equal  to  the  white  man,  and 
therefore  that  the  law  of  the  white  man  cannot  de- 
prive them  of  that  right.  This  is  Mr.  Lincoln's 
argument.      He  is  conscientious    in    his    belief.     I 


164  Abraham  Lincoln 

do  not  question  his  sincerety,  I  do  not  think 
that  the  negro  is  any  kin  of  mine  at  all. 
And  here  is  the  difference  between  us.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  the 
words  "all  men  are  created  equal,"  was  intended 
to  allude  only  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
to  the  men  of  European  birth  or  descent,  being 
white  men,  that  they  were  created  equal  and  hence 
that  Great  Britian  had  no  right  to  deprive  them  of 
their  political  and  religious  privileges ;  but  the  sign- 
ers of  that  paper  did  not  intend  to  include  the 
Indian  or  the  negro  in  that  declaration,  for  if  they 
had  would  they  not  have  been  bound  to  abolish 
slavery  in  every  State  and  Colony  from  that  day. 
Remember,  too,  that  at  the  time  the  Declaration  was 
put  forth,  every  one  of  the  thirteen  colonies  were 
slave-holding  colonies ;  every  man  who  signed  that 
Declaration  represented  slave-holding  constitutents. 
Did  those  signers  mean  by  that  act  to  charge  them- 
selves, and  all  their  constituents  with  having  violated 
the  law  of  God,  in  holding  the  negro  in  an  inferior 
condition  to  the  white  man?  And  yet,  if  they  in- 
cluded negroes  in  that  term,  they  were  bound,  as 
conscientious  men,  that  day  and  that  hour,  not  only 
to  have  abolished  slavery  throughout  the  land,  but  to 
have  conferred  political  rights  and  privileges  on  the 
negro,  and  elevated  him  to  an  equality  with  the  white 
man.  [They  did  not  do  it.]  I  know  they  did  not  do  it, 
and   the   very    fact  that   they  did  not   shows  that 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  165 

they  did  not  understand  the  language  they  used  to 
include  any  but  the  white  race.  Did  they  mean  to  say 
that  the  Indian,  on  this  continent,  was  created  equal 
to  the  white  man,  and  that  he  was  endowed  by  the 
Almighty  with  inalienable  rights — rights  so  sacred 
that  they  could  not  be  taken  way  by  any  Constitu- 
tion or  law  that  man  could  pass?  Why,  their 
whole  action  toward  the  Indian  showed  that  they 
never  dreamed  that  they  were  bound  to  put  him  on 
an  equality.  I  am  opposed  to  putting  the  coolies,  now 
importing  into  this  country,  on  an  equality  with 
us,  or  putting  the  Chinese  or  any  inferior  race  on 
an  equality  with  us/  I  hold  that  the  white  race,  the 
European  race,  I  care  not  whether  Irish,  German, 
French,  Scotch,  English,  or  to  what  nation  they  be- 
long, so  they  are  the  white  race,  to  be  our  equals. 
And  I  am  for  placing  them,  as  our  fathers  did,  on 
an  equality  with  us.  Emigrants  from  Europe,  and 
their  descendants,  constitute  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  only  in- 
cluded the  white  people  of  the  United  States.  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed  by 
the  white  people.  It  ought  to  be  administered 
by  them,  leaving  each  State  to  make  such  regulations 
concerning  the  negro  as  it  chooses,  allowing  him 
political  rights  or  not,  as  it  chooses,  and  allowing 
him  civil  rights  or  not,  as  it  may  determine  for 
itself. 

Let   us  carry   out   those   principles,   and   we   will 


166  Abraham  Lincoln 

have  peace  and  harmony  in  the  different  States.  But 
Mr.  Lincoln's  concientious  scruples  on  this  point 
govern  his  actions,  and  I  honor  him  for  following 
them,  although  I  abhor  the  doctrine  which  he  preach- 
es. His  concientious  scruples  lead  him  to  believe 
that  the  negro  is  entitled  by  Divine  right  to  the 
civil  and  political  privileges  of  citizenship  on  an 
equality  with  the  white  man. 

For  that  reason  he  says  he  wishes  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  reversed.  He  wishes  to  confer  those  privi- 
leges of  citizenship  on  the  negro.  Let  us  see  how  he 
will  do  it.  He  will  first  be  called  upon  to  strike 
out  of  the  Constitution  of  Illinois  that  clause  which 
prohibits  free  negroes  and  slaves  from  Kentucky  or 
any  other  State  coming  into  Illinois.  When  he 
blots  out  that  clause,  when  he  lets  down  the  door 
or  opens  the  gate  for  all  the  negro  population  to  flow 
in  and  cover  our  prairies,  until  in  midday  they  will 
look  dark  and  black  as  night;  when  he  shall  have 
done  this,  his  mission  will  yet  be  unfilled.  Then  it 
will  be  that  he  will  apply  his  principles  of  negro 
equality,  that  is  if  he  can  get  the  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision reversed  in  the  meantime.  He  will  then 
change  the  Constitution  again,  and  allow  them  to 
vote  to  elect  the  Legislature,  the  Judges  and  the 
Governor,  and  will  make  them  eligible  to  the  office 
of  Judge  or  Governor,  or  to  the  Legislature.  He  will 
put  them  on  an  equality  with  the  white  man.  What 
then?    Of  course,  after  making  them  eligible  to  the 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  167 

judiciary,  when  he  gets  CufTee  elevated  to  the  bench, 
he  certainly  will  not  refuse  his  judge  the  privilege  of 
marrying  any  woman  he  may  select !  I  submit  to  you 
whether  these  are  not  the  legitimate  consequences 
of  his  doctrine?  If  it  be  true,  as  he  says,  that  by  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  by  Divine  law,the 
negro  is  created  the  equal  of  the  white  man;  if  it  be 
true  that  the  Dred  Scott  decision  is  unjust  and  wrong, 
because  it  deprives  the  negro  of  citizenship  and 
equality  with  the  white  man,  then  does  it  not  follow 
that  if  he  had  the  power  he  would  make  negroes  cit- 
izens, and  give  them  all  the  rights  and  all  the  priv- 
ileges of  citizenship  on  an  equality  with  the  white 
men?  I  think  that  is  the  inevitable  conclusion.  I 
do  not  doubt  Mr.  Lincoln's  conscientious  conviction 
on  the  subject,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  he  will  carry 
out  that  doctrine  if  he  has  the  power;  but  I  resist 
it  because  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  any  political  am- 
algamation or  any  other  amalgamation  on  this  con- 
tinent. We  are  witnessing  the  result  of  giving  civil 
and  political  rights  to  inferior  races  in  Mexico,  in 
Central  America,  in  South  America,  and  in  the  West 
India  Islands.  Those  young  men  who  went  from 
here  to  Mexico,  to  fight  the  battles  of  their  country 
in  the  Mexican  war,  can  tell  you  the  fruits  of  negro 
equality  with  the  white  man.  They  will  tell  you 
that  the  result  of  that  equality  is  social  amalgama- 
tion, demoralization,  and  degradation,  below  the 
capacity  of  self  government. 


168  Abraham  Lincoln 

My  friends,  if  we  wish  to  preserve  this  govern- 
ment we  must  maintain  it  on  the  basis  which  was 
established,  to-wit :  the  white  basis.  We  must  pre- 
serve the  purity  of  the  race  not  only  in  our  politics 
but  in  our  domestic  relations.  We  must  preserve  the 
sovereignty  of  the  States,  and  we  must  maintain  the 
Federal  Union  by  preserving  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion inviolate.  Let  us  do  that,  and  our  Union  will 
not  only  be  perpetual  but  may  expand  until  it  shall 
spread  over  the  entire  continent.  Fellow-citizens,  I 
have  already  detained  you  too  long.  I  have  ex- 
hausted myself  and  wearied  you,  and  owe  you  an 
apology  for  the  desultory  manner  in  which  I  have 
discussed  these  topics.  I  will  have  an  opportunity 
of  addressing  you  again  before  the  November 
election  comes  off.  I  come  to  you  to  appeal  to  your 
judgment  as  American  citizens,  to  take  your  verdict 
of  approval  or  disapproval  upon  the  discharge  of  my 
public  duties  and  my  principles  as  compared  with 
those  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  If  you  conscientiously  believe 
that  his  principles  are  more  in  harmony  with  the 
feelings  of  the  American  people  and  the  interests 
and  honor  of  the  Republic,  elect  him.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  you  believe  that  my  principles  are  more 
consistent  with  those  great  principles  upon  which 
our  fathers  framed  this  Government,  then  I  shall 
ask  you  to  so  express  your  opinion  at  the  polls.  I 
am  aware  that  it  is  a  bitter  and  severe  contest,  but 
I  do  not  doubt  what  the  decision  of  the  people  of 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  169 

Illinois  will  be.  I  do  not  anticipate  any  personal  col- 
lision between  Mr.Lincoln  and  myself. You  all  know 
that  I  am  an  amiable,  good-natured  man,  and  I  take 
great  pleasure  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  kind-hearted,  amiable,  good-natured 
gentleman,with  whom  no  man  has  a  right  to  pick  a 
quarrel,  even  if  he  wanted  one.  He  is  a  worthy 
gentleman.  I  have  known  him  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  there  is  no  better  citizen,  and  no  kinder-hearted 
man.  He  is  a  fine  lawyer,  possesses  high  ability,  and 
there  is  no  objection  to  him,  except  the  monstrous 
revolutionary  doctrines  with  which  he  is  identified 
and  which  he  conscientiously  entertains,  and  is  de- 
termined to  carry  out  if  he  gets  the  power.  He  has 
one  element  of  strength  upon  which  he  relies  to  ac- 
complish his  object,  that  his  alliance  with  certain  men 
in  this  state  claiming  to  be  Democrats,  whose  avow- 
ed object  is  to  use  their  power  to  prostrate  the  Demo- 
cratic nominees.  He  hopes  he  can  secure  the  few 
men  claiming  to  be  friends  of  the  Lecompton  Con- 
stitution or  its  supporters.  He  is  as  silent  as  the 
grave  upon  that  subject.  Behold  Mr.  Lincoln  court- 
ing Lecompton  votes,  in  order  that  he  may  go  to 
the  Senate  as  the  representative  of  Republican  prin- 
ciples !  You  know  that  that  alliance  exists.  I  think 
you  will  find  that  it  will  ooze  out  before  the  con- 
test is  over.  It  must  be  a  contest  of  principle.  Eith- 
er the  radical  abolition  principles  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
must  be  maintained,   or  the   strong,   constitutional, 


170  Abraham  Lincoln 

national  Democratic  principles  with  which  I  am 
identified  must  be  carried  out.  I  shall  be  satisfied 
whatever  way  you  decide.  I  have  been  sustained 
by  the  people  of  Illinois  with  a  steadiness,  a  firm- 
ness and  an  enthusiasm  which  makes  my  heart  over- 
flow with  gratitude.  If  I  was  now  to  be  consigned 
to  private  life,  I  would  have  nothing  to  complain  of. 
I  would  even  then  owe  you  a  debt  of  gratitude  which 
the  balance  of  my  life  could  not  repay.  But,  my 
friends,  you  have  discharged  every  obligation  you 
owe  to  me.  I  have  been  a  thousand  times  paid  by 
the  welcome  you  have  extended  to  me  since  I  have 
entered  the  State  on  my  return  home  this  time. 
Your  reception  not  only  discharges  all  obligations, 
but  it  furnishes  inducement  to  renewed  efforts  to 
serve  you  in  the  future.  If  you  think  Mr.  Lincoln 
will  do  more  to  advance  the  interests  and  elevate 
the  character  of  Illinois  than  myself,  it  is  your  duty 
to  elect  him;  if  you  think  he  would  do  more  to 
preserve  the  peace  of  the  country  and  perpetuate 
the  Union  than  myself,  then  elect  him.  I  leave 
the  question  in  your  hands,  and  again  tender  you 
my  profound  thanks  for  the  cordial  and  heart-felt 
welcome  tendered  to  me  this  evening. 

Speech  of  Honorable  Abraham  Lincoln 

Delivered    in    Springfield,    Saturday   evening,    July 

17th,   1858 

(Mr.  Douglas  was  not  present.) 

Fellow    Citizens :      Another   election,   which   is 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  171 

deemed  an  important  one,  and,  as  I  suppose,  the 
Republican  party  will,  without  much  difficulty  elect 
their  State  ticket.  But  in  regard  to  the  Legislature, 
we,  the  Republicans,  labor  under  some  disadvan- 
tages. In  the  first  place,  we  have  a  Legislature  to 
elect  upon  an  apportionment  of  representation  made 
several  years  ago,  when  the  proportion  of  the  pop- 
ulation was  far  greater  in  the  South  (as  compared 
with  the  North)  than  it  now  is;  and  inasmuch  as 
our  opponents  hold  almost  entire  sway  in  the  South, 
and  we  are  a  correspondingly  large  majority  in  the 
North,  the  fact  that  we  are  now  represented  as  we 
were  years  ago,  when  the  population  was  different, 
is  to  us,  a  very  great  loss.  We  had  in  the  year  1856, 
according  to  law,  an  enumeration  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, taken  for  the  purpose  of  a  new  apportion- 
ment of  representation.  We  know  what  a  fair  ap- 
portionment of  representation  upon  that  census 
would  give  us.  We  know  that  it  could  not,  if 
fairly  made,  fail  to  give  to  the  Republican  party 
from  six  to  ten  more  members  of  the  Legislature 
than  they  can  probably  get  as  the  law  now  stands. 
It  so  happened  at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature, 
that  our  opponents,  holding  the  control  of  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature,  steadily  refused  to  give 
us  such  an  apportionment  as  we  were  rightly  en- 
titled to  have  upon  the  census  already  taken.  The 
Legislature  steadily  refused  to  give  us  such  an  ap- 
portionment as  we  were  rightly  entitled  to  have  upon 


172  Abraham  Lincoln 


the  census  taken  of  the  population  of  the  State.  The 
Legislature  would  pass  no  bill  upon  that  subject, 
except  such  as  was  at  least  unfair  to  us  as  the  old 
one,  and  in  some  instances,  two  men  in  the  Demo- 
cratic regions  were  allowed  to  go  as  far  toward 
sending  a  member  to  the  Legislature  as  three  were 
in  the  Republican  regions.  Comparison  was  made 
at  the  time  as  to  representative  and  senatorial  dis- 
tricts, which  completely  demonstrated  that  such  was 
the  fact.  Such  a  bill  was  passed  and  tendered  to 
the  Republican  Governor  for  his  signature ;  but  prin- 
cipally for  the  reasons  stated,  he  withheld  his  ap- 
proval, and  the  bill  fell  without  becoming  a  law. 

Another  disadvantage  under  which  we  labor  is, 
that  there  are  one  or  two  Democrat  Senators  who 
will  be  members  of  the  next  Legislature,  and  will 
vote  for  the  election  of  Senator,  who  are  holding 
over  in  districts  in  which  we  could,  on  all  reason- 
able calculation,  elect  men  of  our  own,  if  we  only 
had  the  chance  of  an  election.  When  we  consider 
only  twenty-five  Senators  in  the  Senate,  taking 
two  from  the  side  where  they  rightfully  belong  and 
adding  them  to  the  other,  is  to  us  a  disadvantage  not 
to  be  lightly  regarded.  Still,  so  it  is;  we  have  this 
to  contend  with.  Perhaps  there  is  no  ground  of 
complaint  on  our  part.  In  attending  to  the  many 
things  involved  in  the  last  general  election  for  Pres- 
ident, Governor,  Auditor,  Treasurer,  Superintendent 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  173 

of  Public  Instruction,  Members  of  Congress,  of  the 
Legislature,  County  Officers,  and  so  on,  we  allowed 
these  things  to  happen  by  want  of  sufficient  at- 
tention, and  we  have  no  cause  to  complain  of  our 
adversaries,  so  far  as  this  matter  is  concerned.  But 
we  have  to  complain  of  the  refusal  to  give  us  a 
fair  apportionment. 

There  is  still  another  disadvantage  under  which 
I  will  ask  your  attention.  It  arises  out  of  the  rela- 
tive positions  of  the  two  persons  who  stand  before 
the  State  as  candidates  for  the  Senate.  Senator 
Douglas  is  of  world-wide  renown.  All  the  anxious 
politicians  of  his  party,  or  who  have  been  of  his 
party  for  years  past,  have  been  looking  upon  him  as 
certainly,  at  no  distant  day,  to  be  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  They  have  seen  in  his  round, 
jolly,  fruitful  face,  post-offices,  land-offices,  marshal- 
ships  and  cabinet  appointments,  chargeships  and 
foreign  missions,  bursting  and  sprouting  out  in  won- 
derful exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by  their 
greedy  hands.  And  as  they  have  been  gazing  upon 
this  attractive  picture  so  long,  they  cannot,  in  the 
little  distraction  that  has  taken  place  in  the  party, 
bring  themselves  to  give  up  charming  hope;  but 
with  greedier  anxiety  they  rush  about  him,  sus- 
tain him,  and  give  him  marches,  triumphal  entries, 
and  receptions  beyond  what  even  in  the  days  of  his 
highest  prosperity  they  could  have  brought)  about 
in  his   favor.     On  the  contrary,  nobody  has  ever 


174  Abraham  Lincoln 

expected  me  to  be  President.  In  my  poor,  lean, 
lank  face,  nobody  has  ever  seen  that  any  cabbages 
were  sprouting  out.  These  are  disadvantages  all, 
taken  together,  that  the  Republicans  labor  under.  We 
have  to  fight  this  battle  upon  principle,  and  upon 
principle  alone.  I  am,  in  a  certain  sense  made  the 
standard-bearer  in  behalf  of  the  Republicans.  I 
was  made  so  merely  because  there  had  to  be  some 
one  so  placed — I  being  in  nowise  preferable  to  any 
other  one  of  the  twenty  five — perhaps  a  hundred  we 
have  in  the  Republican  ranks.  Then  I  say  I  wish 
it  to  be  distinctly  understood  and  borne  in  mind, 
that  we  have  to  fight  this  battle  without  many — per- 
haps without  any — of  the  external  aids  which  are 
brought  to  bear  against  us.  So  I  hope  those  with 
whom  I  am  surrounded  have  principle  enough  to 
nerve  themselves  for  the  task  and  leave  nothing  un- 
done, that  can  be  fairly  done,  to  bring  about  the 
right  result. 

After  Senator  Douglas  left  Washington,  as  his 
movements  were  made  known  by  the  public  prints, 
he  tarried  a  considerable  time  in  the  city  of  New 
York;  and  it  was  heralded  that,  like  another  Nap- 
oleon, he  was  lying  by  and  framing  the  plan  of 
his  campaign.  It  was  telegraphed  to  Washington 
City,  and  published  in  the  Union,  that  he  was 
framing  his  plan  for  the  purpose  of  going  to 
Illinois  to  pounce  upon  and  annihilate  the  treason- 
able and  disunion  speech  Lincoln  had  made  here 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  175 

on  the  16th  of  June.  Now,  I  do  suppose  that  the 
Judge  really  spent  some  time  in  New  York  matur- 
ing the  plan  of  campaign,  as  his  friends  hearlded 
for  him.  I  have  been  able,  by  noting  his  move- 
ments since  his  arrival  in  Illinois,  to  discover 
evidences  confirming  of  that  allegation,  I  have  been 
able  to  see  what  are  the  material  points  of  that  plan. 
I  will,  for  a  little  while,  ask  your  attention  to  some 
of  them.  What  I  shall  point  out,  though  not  show- 
ing the  whole  plan,  are,  nevertheless,  the  main  points, 
as  I  suppose. 

They  are  not  very  numerous.  The  first  is  pop- 
ular Sovereignty.  The  second  and  third  are  at- 
tacks upon  my  speech  made  on  the  16th  of  June. 
Out  of  these  three  points — drawing  within  the  range 
of  popular  sovereignty  the  question  of  the  Lecomp- 
ton  Constitution — he  makes  his  principal  assault. 
Upon  these  his  successive  speeches  are  one  and  the 
same — On  this  matter  of  popular  sovereignty 
I  wish  to  be  careful.  Auxiliary  to  these  main 
points,  to  be  sure,  are  their  thunderings  of  cannon, 
their  marching  and  music,  their  fizzle-gigs  and 
fire-works :  but  I  will  not  waste  time  with  them. 
They  are  but  the  little  trappings  of  the  campaign. 

Coming  now  to  the  substance — the  first  point — 
"popular  sovereignty."  It  is  to  be  labeled  upon 
the  cars  in  which  he  travels ;  put  upon  the  hacks  he 
rides  in;  to  be  flaunted  upon  the  arches  he  passes 
under,  and  the  banners  which  wave  over  him.  It 
is  to  be  dished  up  in  as  many  varieties  as  a  French 


176  Abraham  Lincoln 

cook  can  produce  soups  from  potatoes.  Now,  as 
this  is  so  great  a  staple  of  the  plan  of  the  campaign, 
it  is  worth  while  to  examine  it  carefully;  and  if 
we  examine  only  a  very  little,  and  not  allow  ourselves 
to  be  misled,  we  shall  see  that  the  whole  thing  is 
the  most  arrant  Quixotism  that  was  ever  enacted 
before  a  community.  What  is  the  matter  of  pop- 
ular sovereignty?  The  first  thing,  in  order  to  un- 
derstand it,  is  to  get  a  good  definition  of  what  it 
is,  and  after  that  to  see  how  it  is  applied. 

I  suppose  almost  every  one  knows  that,  in  this  con- 
troversy, whatever  has  been  said  has  had  reference 
to  the  question  of  negro  slavery.  We  have  not  been 
in  a  controversy  about  the  right  of  the  people  to  gov- 
ern themselves  in  the  ordinary  matters  of  domestic 
concern  in  the  States  and  Territories.  Mr.  Buchanan, 
in  one  of  his  late  messages  (I  think  when  he  sent  up 
the  Lecompton  Constitution),  urged  that  the  main 
points  to  which  the  public  attention  had  been  di- 
rected, was  not  in  regard  to  the  great  variety  of 
small  domestic  matters,  but  was  directed  to  the 
question  of  negro  slavery;  and  he  asserts,  that  if  the 
people  had  a  fair  chance  to  vote  on  that  question, 
there  was  no  reasonable  ground  of  objection  in  re- 
gard to  minor  questions.  Now,  while  I  think  that 
the  people  had  not  had  given,  or  offered  them  a  fair 
chance  upon  that  slavery  question;  still  if  there  had 
been  a  fair  submission  to  vote  upon  the  main 
question,   the    President's   proposition   would   have 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  177 

been  true  to  the  uttermost.  Hence,  when  hereafter 
I  speak  of  popular  sovereignty,  I  wish  to  be  under- 
stood as  applying  what  I  say  to  the  question  of  slav- 
ery only,  not  to  other  minor  domestic  matters  of  a 
Territory  or  State. 

Does  judge  Douglas,  when  he  says  that  several 
of  the  past  years  of  his  life  have  been  devoted  to 
the  question  of  "popular  sovereignty,"  and  that  all 
the  remainder  of  his  life  shall  be  devoted  to  it,  does 
he  mean  to  say  that  he  has  been  devoting  his  life  to 
securing  to  the  people  of  the  Territories  the  right 
to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Territories?  If  he 
means  so  to  say,  he  means  to  deceive ;  because  he  and 
everyone  knows  that  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
court,  which  he  approves  and  makes  special  ground 
for  attack  upon  me  for  disapproving,  forbids  the 
people  of  a  Territory  to  exclude  slavery.  This  cov- 
ers the  whole  ground,  from  the  settlement  of  a  Ter- 
ritory till  it  reaches  the  degree  of  maturity  entitling 
it  to  form  a  State  Constitution.  So  far  as  all  that 
ground  is  concerned,  the  Judge  is  not  sustaining  pop- 
ular sovereignty,  but  absolutely  opposing  it.  He 
sustains  the  decision  which  declares  that  the  pop- 
ular will  of  the  Territories  has  no  constitutional 
power  to  exclude  slavery  during  their  territorial  ex- 
istence. This  being  so,  the  period  of  time  from 
the  settlement  of  a  Territory  till  it  reaches  the 
point  of  forming  a  State  Constitution,  is  not  the 
thing  that  the  Judge  has  fought  for,  the  thing  that 


178  Abraham  Lincoln 

annihilates  and  crushes  out  that  same  popular  sov- 
ereignty. 

Well,  so  much  being  disposed  of,  what  is  left? 
Why,  he  is  contending  for  the  right  of  the  people 
when  they  come  to  make  a  State  Constitution,  to 
make  it  for  themselves,  and  precisely  as  best  suits 
themselves.  I  say  again,  that  is  Quixotic.  I  defy 
contradiction  when  I  declare  that  the  Judge  can 
find  no  one  to  oppose  him  on  that  proposition.  I 
repeat  there  is  nobody  opposing  that  proposition  on 
principle.  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  know 
that,  with  reference  to  the  Lecompton  Constitu- 
tion, I  may  be  misunderstood ;  but  when  you  under- 
stand me  correctly,  my  proposition  will  be  true  and 
accurate.  Nobody  is  opposing,  or  has  opposed,  the 
right  of  the  people,  when  they  form  a  constitution 
to  form  it  for  themselves.  Mr.  Buchanan  and  his 
friends  have  not  done  it ;  they,  too,  as  well  as  the 
Republicans  and  the  anti-Lecompton  Democrats, 
have  not  done  it ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  to- 
gether have  insisted  on  the  right  of  the  people  to 
form  a  Constitution  for  themselves.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  Buchanan  men  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Douglas  men  and  the  Republicans  on  the 
other,  has  not  been  on  a  question  of  principle,  but 
on  a  question  of  fact. 

The  dispute  was  upon  the  question  of  fact,whether, 
the  Lecompton  Constitution  had  been  fairly  formed 
by  the  people     or   not.     Mr.      Buchanan  and  his 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  179 

friends  have  not  contended  for  the  contrary  prin- 
ciple any  more  than  the  Douglas  men  or  the  Repub- 
licans. They  have  insisted  that  whatever  of  small 
irregularities  existed  in  getting  up  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  were  such  as  happen  in  the  settlement 
of  all  new  Territories.  The  question  was,  was  it  a 
fair  emanation  of  the  people?  It  was  a  question  of 
fact  and  not  of  principle.  As  to  the  principle,  all 
were  agreed.  Judge  Douglas  voted  with  the  Re- 
publicans upon  that  matter  of  fact. 

He  and  they,  by  their  voices  and  votes,  denied 
that  it  was  a  fair  emanation  of  the  people.  The  Ad- 
ministration affirmed  that  it  was.  With  respect 
to  the  evidence  bearing  upon  that  question  of  fact, 
I  readily  see  that  Judge  Douglas  and  the  Repub- 
licans had  the  right  on  their  side,  and  the  adminis- 
tration was  wrong.  But  I  state  again  that  as  a  mat- 
ter of  principle,  there  is  no  dispute  upon  the  right  of 
a  people  in  a  Territory,  merging  into  a  State  to 
form  a  Constitution  for  themselves  without  inter- 
ference fromi  any  quarter.  This  being  so,  what  is 
Judge  Douglas  going  to  spend  his  life  for?  Is  he  go- 
ing to  spend  his  life  in  maintaining  a  principle  that 
nobody  opposes  ?  Does  he  expect  to  stand  up  in  ma- 
jestic dignity,  and  go  through  his  apotheosis  and  be- 
come a  god,  in  the  maintaining  of  a  principle  which 
neither  man  nor  mouse  in  all  God's  creation  is  op- 
posing? Now  something  in  regard  to  the  Lecomp- 
ton Constitution  more  specially;  for  I  pass   from 


180  Abraham  Lincoln 

this  other  question  of  popular  sovereignty  as  the 
most  arrant  humbug  that  has  ever  been  attempted 
on  an  intelligent  community. 

As  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  I  have  already 
said  that  on  the  question  of  fact  as  to  whether  it 
was  a  fair  emanation  of  the  people  or  not,  Judge 
Douglas  with  the  Republicans  and  some  Americans 
had  greatly  the  argument  against  the  Administra- 
tion; and  while  I  repeat  this,  I  wish  to  know  what 
there  is  in  the  opposition  of  Judge  Douglas  to  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  that  entitles  him  to  be  con- 
sidered the  only  opponent  to  it — as  being  par  ex- 
cellence the  very  quintessence  of  that  opposition.  I 
agree  to  the  rightfulness  of  his  opposition.  He  in 
the  Senate  and  his  class  of  men  there  formed  the 
number  three  and  no  more.  In  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives his  class  of  men — the  Anti-Lecompton 
Democrats — formed  a  number  of  about  twenty.  It 
took  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  defeat  the  measure, 
against  one  hundred  and  twelve.  Of  the  votes  of 
that  one  hundred  and  twenty,  Judge  Douglas's 
friends  furnished  twenty,  to  add  to  which  there  were 
six  Americans  and  ninety-four  Republicans.  I  do 
not  know  that  I  am  precisely  accurate  in  their  num- 
bers, but  I  am  sufficiently  so  for  any  use  I  am  mak- 
ing of  it. 

Why  is  it  that  twenty  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the 
credit  of  doing  that  work,  and  the  hundred  none  of 
it?    Why,  if,  as  Judge  Douglas  says,  the  honor  is 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  181 

to  be  divided  and  due  credit  is  to  be  given  to  other 
parties,  why  is  it  just  so  much  given  as  is  consonant 
with  his  wishes,  the  interests  and  advancement  of 
the  twenty?  My  understanding  is,  when  a  common 
job  is  done,  or  a  common  enterprise  prosecuted,  if 
I  put  in  five  dollars  to  your  one,  I  have  a  right  to 
take  out  five  dollars  to  your  one.  But  he  does  not 
so  understand  it.  He  declares  the  dividend  of  cre- 
dit for  defeating  Lecompton  upon  a  basis  which 
seems  unprecedented  and  incomprehensible. 

Let  us  see.  Lecompton  in  the  raw  was  defeated. 
It  afterward  took  a  sort  of  cooked  up  shape,  and 
was  passed  in  the  English  bill.  It  is  said  by  the 
Judge  that  the  defeat  was  a  good  and  proper  thing. 
If  it  was  a  good  thing,  why  is  he  entitled  to  more 
credit  than  others,  for  the  performance  of  that 
good  act,  unless  there  was  something  in  the  ante- 
cedents of  the  Republicans  that  might  induce  every 
one  to  expect  them  to  join  in  that  good  work,  and 
at  the  same  time,  something  leading  them  to  doubt 
that  he  would?  Does  he  place  his  superior  claim 
to  credit,  on  the  ground  that  he  performed  a  good 
act  which  was  never  expected  of  him?  He  says 
I  have  a  proneness  for  quoting  scripture.  If  I 
should  do  so  now,  it  occurs  that  perhaps  he  places 
himself  somewhat  upon  the  ground  of  the  parable 
of  the  lost  shedp  which  went  astray  upon  the 
mountains,  and  when  the  owner  of  the  hundred 
sheep  found  the  one  that  was  lost,  and  threw  it  upon 


182  Abraham  Lincoln 

his  shoulders,  and  came  home  rejoicing,  it  was  said 
that  there  was  more  rejoicing  over  the  one  sheep 
that  was  lost  and  had  been  found  than  over  the 
ninety  and  nine  in  the  fold.  The  application  is 
made  by  the  Saviour  in  this  parable,  thus :  "Verily, 
I  say  unto  you  there  is  more  rejoicing  in  heaven 
over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  than  over  ninety 
and  nine  persons  that  need  no  repentance." 

And  now,  if  the  Judge  claims  the  benefit  of  this 
parable,  let  him  repent.  Let  him  not  come  up  here 
and  say:  "I  am  the  only  just  person;  and  you  are 
the  ninety-nine  sinners."  Repentance  before  for- 
giveness is  a  provision  of  the  Christian  system,  and 
on  that  condition  alone  will  the  Republicans  grant 
his   forgiveness. 

How  will  he  prove  that  we  have  ever  occupied 
a  different  position  in  regard  to  the  Lecompton  Con- 
stitution or  any  principle  in  it  ?  He  says  he  did  not 
make  his  opposition  on  the  ground  as  to  whether  it 
was  a  free  or  slave  Constitution,  and  he  would 
have  you  understand  that  the  Republicans  made 
their  opposition  because  it  ultimately  became  a  slave 
Constitution.  To  make  proof  in  favor  of  himself 
on  this  point,  he  reminds  us  that  he  opposed  Lecomp- 
ton before  the  vote  was  taken  declaring  whether 
the  State  was  to  be  free  or  slave.  But  he  for- 
gets to  say  that  our  Republican  Senator,  Trumbul, 
made  a  speech  against  Lecompton  even  before  he 
did. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  183 

Why  did  he  oppose  it  ?  Partly,  as  he  declares,  be- 
cause the  members  of  the  Constitution  who  framed 
it  were  not  fairly  elected  by  the  people;  that  the 
people  were  not  all  allowed  to  vote  unless  they  had 
been  registered;  and  that  the  people  of  whole  coun- 
ties, in  some  instances,  were  not  registered.  For 
these  reasons  he  declares  the  Constitution  was  not 
an  emanation,  in  any  true  sense,  from  the  people. 
He  also  has  an  additional  objective  as  to  the  mode 
of  submitting  the  Constitution  back  to  the  people. 
But  bearing  on  the  question  of  whether  the  dele- 
gates were  fairly  elected,  a  speech  of  his,  made 
something  more  than  twelve  months  ago,  from  this 
stand,  becomes  important.  It  was  made  a  little 
while  before  the  election  of  the  delegates  who  made 
Lecompton.  In  that  speech  he  declared  there  was 
every  reason  to  hope  and  believe  the  election  would 
be  fair;  and  if  anyone  failed  to  vote,  it  would  be  his 
own  culpable  fault. 

I,  a  few  days  after,  made  a  sort  of  answer  to  that 
speech.  In  that  answer,  I  made,  substantially,  the 
very  argument  with  which  he  combatted  his  Le- 
compton adversaries  in  the  Senate  last  winter.  I 
pointed  to  the  facts  that  the  people  could  not  vote 
without  being  registered,  and  that  the  time  for  reg- 
istering had  gone  by.  I  commented  on  it  as  wonder- 
ful that  Judge  Douglas  could  be  ignorant  of  these 
facts,  which  every  one  else  in  the  nation  so  well 
knew. 


184  Abraham  Lincoln 

I  now  pass  from,  popular  sovereignty  and  Le- 
compton.  I  may  have  occasion  to  refer  to  one  or 
both. 

When  he  was  planning  his  campaign,  Napoleon- 
like, in  New  York,  as  appears  by  two  speeches  I 
have  heard  him  deliver  a  speech  since  his  arrival 
in  Illinois,  he  gave  special  attention  to  the  speech 
of  mine,  delivered  here  on  the  16th  of  June  last. 
He  says  that  he  carefully  read  that  speech.  He 
told  us  that  at  Chicago  a  week  ago  last  night,  and 
he  repeated  it  at  Bloomington  last  night.  Doubt- 
less, he  repeated  it  again  today,  though  I  did  not 
hear  him.  In  the  two  first  places  I  heard  him; 
today  I  did  not.  He  said  he  had  carefully  examin- 
ed that  speech;  when,  he  did  not  say;  but  there  is 
no  reasonable  doubt  it  was  when  he  was  in  Chicago 
and  Bloomington  and  New  York  preparing  his  plan 
of  campaign.  I  am  glad  he  did  read  it  carefully. 
He  says  it  was  evidently  prepared  with  great  care. 
I  freely  admit  it  was  prepared  with  care.  I  claim 
not  to  be  more  free  from  errors  than  others — per- 
haps scarcely  so  much;  but  I  was  only  careful  not 
to  put  anything  in  that  speech  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
or  make  any  inferences  which  did  not  appear  to 
me  to  be  true,  and  fully  warrantable.  If  I  had 
made  a  mistake  I  was  willing  to  be  corrected;  if 
I  had  drawn  any  inference  in  regard  to  Judge 
Douglas,  or  anyone  else,  which  was  not  warranted, 
I  was  fully  prepared  to  modify  it  as  soon  as  dis- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  185 

covered.  I  planted  myself  on  the  truth  and  the 
truth  only,  so  far  as  I  knew  it,  or  could  be  brought 
to  know  it. 

Having  made  that  speech  with  the  most  kindly 
feelings  toward  Judge  Douglas  as  manifested 
therein,  I  was  gratified  when  I  found  that  he  had 
carefully  examined  it,  and  had  detected  no  error  of 
fact,  nor  any  inference  against  him,  nor  any  mis- 
representations, of  which  he  thought  fit  to  com- 
plain. In  neither  of  the  two  speeches  I  have  men- 
tioned, did  he  make  any  such  complaint.  I  will 
thank  anyone  who  will  inform  me  that  he,  in  his 
speech  today,  pointed  out  anything  I  had  stated,  re- 
specting him,  as  being  erroneous.  I  presume  there 
is  no  such  thing.  I  have  reason  to  be  gratified  that 
the  care  and  caution  used  in  that  speech,  left  it  so  that 
he,  most  of  all  others  interested  in  discovering  er- 
ror, has  not  been  able  to  point  out  one  thing  against 
him  which  he  could  say  was  wrong.  He  sizes  upon 
the  doctrines  he  supposes  to  be  included  in  that 
speech,  and  declares  that  upon  them  will  turn  the 
issues  of  this  campaign.  He  then  quotes,  or  at- 
tempts to  quote,  from  my  speech.  I  will  not  say  that 
he  willfully  misquotes,  but  he  does  fail  to  quote 
accurately.  His  attempt  at  quoting  is  from  a  pass- 
age which  I  believe  I  can  quote  accurately  from 
memory.  I  shall  make  the  quotation  now,  with 
some  comments  upon  it,  as  I  have  already  said,  in 
order  that  the  Judge  shall  be  left  entirely  without 


186  Abraham  Lincoln 

excuse  for  misrepresenting  me.  I  do  so  now,  as  I 
hope,  for  the  last  time.  I  do  this  in  great  caution, 
in  order  that  if  he  repeats  his  misrepresentations,  it 
shall  be  plain  to  all  that  he  does  so  willfully.  If, 
after  all,  he  still  persists,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  re- 
construct the  course  I  have  marked  out  for  myself, 
and  draw  upon  such  humble  resources  as  I  have,  for 
a  new  course,  better  suited  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
case.  I  set  out,  in  this  campaign  with  the  intention 
of  conducting  it  strictly  as  a  gentleman,  in  substance 
at  least,  if  not  in  the  outside  polish.  The  latter  I 
shall  never  be,  but  that,  which  constitutes  the  inside 
of  a  gentleman  I  hope  I  understand,  and  am  not  less 
inclined  to  practice  than  others.  It  was  my  purpose 
and  expectation  that  this  canvass  would  be  conducted 
upon  principle,  and  with  fairness  on  both  sides,  and 
it  shall  not  be  my  fault  if  this  purpose  and  expecta- 
tion shall  be  given  up. 

He  charges  in  substance,  that  I  invite  a  war  of 
sections;  that  I  propose  all  the  local  institutions  of 
the  different  States  shall  become  consolidated  and 
uniform.  What  is  there  in  the  language  of  that 
speech  which  expresses  such  purpose,  or  bears 
such  construction  ?  I  have  again  and  again  said  that 
I  would  not  enter  into  any  of  the  States  into  any  at- 
titude of  firing  bombs  or  shells  into  the  slave  States. 
I  was  not  using  that  passage  for  the  purpose  for 
which  he  infers  I  did  use  it.  I  said:  "We  are  now 
far  advanced  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  187 

created  for  the  avowed  object  and  with  the  confi- 
dent promise  of  putting  an  end  to  slavery  agitation. 
Under  the  operation  of  that  policy  that  agitation 
has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  augment- 
ed. In  my  opinion  it  will  not  cease  till  a  crisis 
shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  "A  house  di- 
vided against  itself  cannot  stand."  I  believe  that 
this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently  half 
slave  and  half  free.  It  will  become  all  one  thing 
or  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will 
arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where 
the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in 
the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates 
will  push  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful 
in  all  States,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as 
South. 

Now  you  all  see,  from  that  quotation,  I  did  not  ex- 
press my  wish  or  purpose  of  my  own;  I  simply 
expressed  my  expectation.  Cannot  the  Judge  per- 
ceive a  distinction  between  a  purpose  and  an  ex- 
pectation? I  have  often  expressed  an  ex- 
pectation? I  have  often  expressed  an  ex- 
pectation to  die,  but  I  have  never  expressed  a  wish 
to  die.  I  said  at  Chicago,  and  now  I  repeat,  that 
I  am  quite  aware  this  Government  has  endured,  half 
slave  and  half  free,  for  eighty-two  years.  I  under- 
stand that  little  bit  of  history.  I  expressed  the 
opinion  I  did,  because  I  perceived — or  thought  I 
perceived — a  new  set  of  causes  introduced.    I  did 


188  Abraham  Lincoln 

say  at  Chicago,  in  my  speech  there,  that  I  do  wish  to 
see  the  spread  of  slavery  arrested,  and  to  see  it 
placed  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  be- 
lief that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction. 
I  said  that  because  I  supposed,  when  the  'public  mind 
shall  rest  in  that  belief,  we  shall  have  peace  on  the 
slavery  question.  I  have  believed — and  now  be- 
lieve— the  public  mind  did  rest  on  that  belief  up  to 
the  introducing  of  the  Nebraska  bill. 

Although  I  have  ever  been  opposed  to  slavery,  so 
far  I  rested  in  the  hope  and  belief  that  it  was  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction.  For  this  reason  it 
had  been  a  minor  question  with  me.  I  might  have 
been  mistaken ;  but  I  had  believed,  and  now  believe 
that  the  whole  public  mind,  that  is,  the  mind  of  the 
great  majority,  had  rested  in  that  belief  up  to  the  re- 
peal of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  But  upon  that 
event,  I  became  convinced  that  either  I  had  been 
resting  in  a  delusion,  the  institution  was  being  placed 
on  a  new  basis — a  basis  for  making  it  perpetual, 
national  and  universal.  Subsequent  events  have 
greatly  confirmed  me  in  that  belief.  I  believe  that 
bill  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  conspiracy  for  that  pur- 
pose. So  believing,  I  have  since  then  considered 
that  question  a  paramount  one.  So  believing,  I 
thought  the  public  mind  will  never  rest  till  the  power 
of  Congress  to  restrict  the  spread  of  it  shall  again 
be  acknowledged  and  exercised  on  the  one  hand,  or 
on  the  other,  resistance  being  entirely  crushed  out. 
I  have  expressed  that  opinion,  and  I  entertain  it  to- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  189 

night.  It  is  denied  that  there  is  any  tendency  to 
nationalization  of  slavery  in  these  States. 

Mr.  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  in  one  of  his 
speeches,  when  they  were  presenting  him  canes,  sil- 
ver plate,  gold  pitchers,  and  the  like,  for  assaulting 
Senator  Sumner,  distinctly  affirmed  his  opinion  that 
when  the  Constitution  was  framed  it  was  the  be- 
lief of  no  man  that  slavery  would  last  to  the  present 
day. 

He  said,  what  I  think,  that  the  framers  of  our  Con- 
stitution placed  the  institution  of  slavery  where  the 
public  mind  rested  in  the  hope  that  it  was  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction.  But  he  went  on  to 
say  that  the  men  of  the  present  age,  by  their  exper- 
ience, have  become  wiser  than  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution;  and  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin 
had  made  the  perpetuity  of  slavery  a  necessity  in 
this  country. 

As  another  piece  of  evidence  tending  to  this  same 
point :  Quite  recently  in  Virginia  a  man — the  own- 
er of  slaves — made  a  will  providing  that  after  his 
death  certain  of  his  slaves  should  have  their  free- 
dom if  they  should  choose  and  go  to  Liberia,  rather 
than  remain  in  slavery.  They  chose  to  be  liberated. 
But  the  persons  to  whom  they  would  descend  as 
property,  claimed  them  as  slaves.  A  suit  was  insti- 
tuted, which  finally  came  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Virginia,  and  was  there  decided  against  the  slaves, 
upon  the  ground  that  a  negro  cannot  make  a  choice — 


190  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  they  had  no  legal  power  to  choose — could  not 
perform  the  condition  upon  which  their  freedom  de- 
pended. 

I  do  not  mention  this  with  any  purpose  of  crit- 
icising it  but  I  wish  to  connect  it  with  the  arguments 
as  affording  additional  evidence  of  the  change  of 
sentiment  upon  this  question  of  slavery  in  the  di- 
rection of  making  it  perpetual  and  national.  I  ar- 
gue now  as  I  did  before,  that  there  is  such  a  tenden- 
cy, and  I  am  backed  not  merely  by  the  facts,  but  by 
the  open  confession  in  slave  States. 

And  now,  as  to  the  Judge's  inference,  that  be- 
cause I  wish  to  see  slavery  placed  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction — placed  where  our  fathers 
originally  placed  it — I  wish  to  annihilate  the  State 
Legislatures — to  force  cotton  to  grow  upon  the  tops 
of  the  Green  Mountains — to  freeze  ice  in  Florida 
— to  cut  lumber  on  the  broad  Illinois  prairies — that 
I  am  in  favor  of  all  these  ridiculous  and  impossible 
things. 

It  seems  to  me  it  is  a  complete  answer  to  all  this  to 
ask,  if,  when  Congress  did  have  the  fashion  of  re- 
stricting from  free  territory;  when  courts  did  have 
the  fashion  of  deciding  that  taking  a  slave  into  a 
free  country  made  him  free — I  say  it  is  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  ask,  if  any  of  this  rediculous  non- 
sense about  consolidation,  and  uniformity,  did  act- 
ually  follow?     Who  heard    any    such    thing,    be- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  191 

cause  of  the  ordinance  of  '87?  because  of  the  Mis- 
souri Restrictions?  because  of  the  numerous  court 
decisions  of  that  character? 

Now,  as  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision;  for  upon 
that  he  makes  his  last  point  at  me.  He  boldly  takes 
ground  in  favor  of  that  decision. 

This  is  onehalf  the  onslaught,  and  one-third  of 
the  entire  plan  of  the  campaign.  I  am  opposed  to 
that  decision  in  a  certain  sense,  but  not  in  the  sense 
which  he  puts  on  it.  I  say  that  so  far  a  suit  decided 
in  favor  of  Dred  Scott's  master,  and  against  Dred 
Scott  and  his  family,  I  do  not  propose  to  distub  or 
resist  the  decision. 

I  never  have  proposed  to  do  any  such  thing.  I 
think,  that  in  respect  for  judicial  authority,  my  hum- 
ble history  would  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  that 
of  Judge  Douglas.  He  would  have  the  citizen  con- 
form his  vote  to  that  decision;  the  member  of  Con- 
gress, his ;  the  President,  his  use  of  the  veto  power. 
He  would  make  it  a  rule  of  political  action  for  the 
people  and  all  the  departments  of  the  Government. 
I  would  not.  By  resisting  it  as  a  political  rule,  I  dis- 
turb no  right  of  property,  create  no  disorder,  excite 
no  mobs. 

When  he  spoke  at  Chicago,  on  Friday  evening  of 
last  week,  he  made  this  same  point  upon  me.  On 
Saturday  evening  I  replied,  and  reminded  him  of 
a  Supreme  Court  decision  which  he  opposed  for  at 
least   several   years.     Last   night,   at   Bloomington, 


192  Abraham  Lincoln 

he  took  some  notice  of  that  reply;  but  entirely  for- 
got to  remember  that  part  of  it. 

He  renews  his  onslaught  on  me,  forgetting  to  re- 
member that  I  have  turned  the  tables  against  him- 
self on  that  very  point.  I  renew  the  effort  to  draw 
his  attention  to  it.  I  wish  to  stand  erect  before  the 
country,  as  well  as  Judge  Douglas,  on  this  question 
of  judicial  authority;  and  therefore  I  add  some- 
thing to  the  authority,  in  favor  of  my  position. 
I  wish  to  show  that  I  am  sustained  by  authority,  in 
addition  to  that  heretofore  presented.  I  do  not  ex- 
pect to  convince  the  Judge.  It  is  part  of  the  plan  of 
his  campaign,  and  he  will  cling  to  it  with  a  desper- 
ate grip.  Even,  turn  it  upon  him — the  sharp  point 
against  him,  and  gaff  him  through — he  will  still 
cling  to  it  till  he  can  invent  some  new  dodge  to  take 
the  place  of  it. 

In  public  speaking  it  is  tedious  reading  from  doc- 
uments; but  I  must  beg  to  indulge  the  practice  to  a 
limited  extent.  I  shall  read  from  a  letter  written 
by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1820,  and  now  to  be  found  in 
the  seventh  volume  of  his  correspondence,  at  page 
1 77.  It  seems  he  had  been  presented  by  a  gentleman 
of  the  name  of  Jarvis  with  a  book,  or  essay,  or 
periodical,  called  the  "Republican,"and  he  was  writ- 
ing in  acknowledgment  of  the  present,  and  noting 
some  of  its  contents.  After  expressing  the  hope  that 
the  work  will  produce  a  favorable  effect  upon  the 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  193 

minds  of  the  young,  he  proceeds  to  say: 

"That  it  will  have  this  tendency  may  be  expected, 
and  for  that  reason  I  feel  an  urgency  to  note  what 
I  deem  an  error  in  it,  the  more  requiring  notice  as 
your  opinion  is  strengthened  by  that  of  others. You 
seem,  in  page  84  and  148  to  consider  the  Judges  as 
the  ultimate  arbiters  of  all  constitutional  questions — 
a  very  dangerous  doctrine  indeed,  and  one  which 
would  place  us  under  the  despotism  of  an  oligarchy. 
Our  Judges  are  as  honest  as  other  men,  and  not  more 
so.  They  have,  with  others,  the  same  passions  for 
party,  for  power,  and  the  privilege  of  their  corps. 
Their  maxium  is  'boni  jndicis  est  ampliare  judfisdic- 
tionem;'  and  their  power  is  the  more  dangerous  as 
they  are  in  office  for  life,  and  not  responsible,  as 
the  other  functionaries  are,  to  the  elective  control. 
The  constitution  has  erected  no  such  single  tribunal 
knowing  that,  to  whatever  hands  confided,  with  the 
corruptions  of  time  and  party,  its  numbers  would 
become  despots.  It  has  more  wisely  made  all  the 
departments  coequal  and  sovereign  with  themselves." 

Thus  we  see  the  power  claimed  for  the  Supreme 
Court  by  Judge  Douglas,  Mr.  Jefferson  holds,  would 
reduce  us  to  the  despotism  of  an  oligarchy. 

Now,  I  have  said  no  more  than  this — in  fact,  never 
quite  so  much  as  this — at  least  I  am  sustained  by 
Mr.  Jefferson. 

Let  us  go  a  little  further.     You  remember  we  once 


194  Abraham  Lincoln 

had  a  National  Bank.  Someone  owed  the  bank  a 
debt ;  he  was  sued  and  sought  to  avoid  payment,  on 
the  ground  that  the  bank  was  unconstitutional.  The 
case  went  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  therein  it  was 
decided  that  the  bank  was  unconstitutional.  The 
whole  Democratic  party  revolted  against  that  decis- 
ion. General  Jackson  himself  asserted  that  he,  as 
President,  would  not  be  bound  to  hold  a  National 
Bank  to  be  constitutional,  even  though  the  court  had 
decided  it  to  be  so.  He  fell  in  precisely  with  the 
view  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  acted  upon  it  under  his 
official  oath,  in  vetoing  a  charter  for  a  National 
Bank.  The  declaration  that  Congress  does  not  possess 
the  constitutional  power  to  charter  a  bank,  has  gone 
into  the  Democratic  platform  at  their  National  Con- 
vention, and  was  brought  forward  and  reaffirmed 
in  their  last  convention  at  Cincinnati.  They  have 
contended  for  that  declaration,  in  the  very  teeth  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  In  fact,  they  have  reduced  the  decision 
to  an  absolute  nullity.  That  decision,  I  repeat,  is  re- 
pudiated in  the  Cincinnati  platform ;  and  still,  as  if  to 
show  that  effrontery  can  go  farther,  Judge  Doug- 
las vaunts  in  the  very  speeches  in  which  he  de- 
nounces me  for  opposing  the  Dred  Scott  decision, 
that  he  stands  on  the  Cincinnati  platform. 

Now,  I  wish  to  know  what  the  judge  can  charge 
upon  me,  with  respect  to  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  does  not  lie  in  all  its  length,  breadth, 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  195 

and  proportions  at  his  own  door.  The  plain  truth 
is  simply  this :  Judge  Douglas  is  for  Supreme  Court 
decisions  when  he  likes  and  against  them  when  he 
does  not  like  them.  He  is  for  the  Dred  Scott  decis- 
ion because  it  tends  to  nationalize  slavery — because 
it  is  a  part  of  the  original  combination  for  that  ob- 
ject. It  so  happens,  singularly  enough,  that  I  nev- 
er stood  opposed  to  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
till  this.  On  the  contrary,  I  have  no  recollection 
that  he  was  ever  in  favor  of  one  till  this.  He  never 
was  in  favor  of  any,  nor  opposed  to  any,  till  the 
present   one,   which  helps   to   nationalize  slavery. 

Free  men  of  Sangamon — free  men  of  Illinois — 
free  men  everywhere — judge  between  him  and  me, 
upon  this  issue. 

He  says  the  Dred  Scott  case  is  a  very  small  matter 
at  most — that  it  has  no  practical  effect ;  and  at  best, 
or  rather,  I  suppose,  at  worst,  it  is  but  an  abstraction. 
I  submit  that  the  thing  which  determines  whether 
a  man  is  free  or  a  slave,  is  rather  concrete  than 
abstract.  I  think  you  would  conclude  that  it  was, 
if  your  liberty  depended  upon  it,  and  so  would 
Judge  Douglas  if  his  liberty  depended  upon  it.  But 
suppose  it  was  upon  the  question  of  spreading 
slavery  over  the  new  Territories  that  he  considers  it 
as  being  merely  an  abstract  matter,  and  one  of  no 
practical  importance.  How  has  the  planting  of 
slavery  in  new  countries  always  been  effected?  It 
has  now  been  decided  that  slavery  cannot  be  kept  out 


196  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  our  new  Territories  by  any  legal  means.  In  what 
does  our  new  Territories  now  differ  in  this  respect 
from  the  old  Colonies  when  slavery  was  first  planted 
within  them?  It  was  planted  as  Mr.  Clay  once  de- 
clared, and  as  history  proves  true,  by  individual  men 
in  spite  of  the  wishes  of  the  people;  the  Mother 
Government  refusing  to  prohibit  it,  and  withholding 
from  the  people  of  the  Colonies  the  authority  to 
prohibit  it  for  themselves.  Mr.  Clay  says  this  was 
one  of  the  great  and  just  causes  of  complaint  against 
Great  Britian  by  the  Colonies,  and  the  best  apology 
we  can  now  make  for  having  the  institution  amongst 
us.  In  that  precise  condition  our  Nebraska  politi- 
cians have  at  last  succeded  in  placing  our  new  Terri- 
tories; the  Government  will  not  prohibit  slavery 
within  them,  nor  allow  the  people  to  prohibit  it. 

I  defy  any  man  to  find  any  difference  between 
the  policy  which  now  prevails  in  our  new  Territories. 
If  it  does  not  go  into  them,  it  is  only  because  no 
individual  wishes  it  to  go.  The  Judge  indulged 
himself,  doubtless  today,  with  the  question  as  to 
what  I  am  going  to  do  about  the  Dred  Scott  decision. 
Well,  Judge,  will  you  please  tell  me  what  you  did 
about  the  bank  decision?  Will  you  not  graciously 
allow  us  to  do  with  the  Dred  Scott  decision  precisely 
as  you  did  with  the  bank  decision?  You  succeeded 
in  breaking  down  the  moral  effect  of  that  decision; 
did  you  find  it  necessary  to  amend  the  Constitution? 
or  to  set  up  a  court  of  negroes  in  order  to  do  it? 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  197 

There  is  one  other  point.  Judge  Douglas  has  a 
very  affectionate  leaning  toward  the  Americans  and 
Old  Whigs.  Last  evening,  in  a  sort  of  weeping 
tone,  he  described  to  us  a  death-bed  scene.  He  had 
been  called  to  the  side  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  his  last 
moments,  in  order  that  the  genius  of  "popular  sov- 
ereignty" might  duly  descend  from:  the  dying  man 
and  settle  upon  him,  the  living  and  most  worthy 
successor.  He  could  do  no  less  than  promise  that 
he  would  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  "pop- 
ular sovereignty;"  and  then  the  great  statesman 
departs  in  peace.  By  this  part  of  the  "plan  of  the 
campaign,"  the  Judge  has  evidently  promised  him- 
self that  tears  shall  be  drawn  down  the  cheeks  of 
all  the  old  Whigs,  as  large  as  half  grown  apples. 

Mr.  Webster,  too,  was  mentioned;  but  it  did  not 
quite  come  to  a  death-bed  scene,  as  to  him.  It 
would  be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  disgusting,  to  see 
how  quick  these  compromise-breakers  administer  on 
the  political  effects  of  their  dead  adversaries,  trump- 
ing up  claims  never  before  heard  of,  and  dividing 
the  assets  among  themselves.  If  I  should  be  found 
dead  tomorrow  morning,  nothing  but  my  insigni- 
ficance could  prevent  a  speech  being  made  on  my 
authority,  before  the  end  of  next  week.  It  so  hap- 
pens that  in  that  "popular  sovereignty"  with  which 
Mr.  Clay  was  identified,  the  Missouri  Compromise 
was  expressly  reversed;  and  it  was  a  little  singular 
if  Mr.  Clay  cast  his  mantle  upon  Judge  Douglas 
on  purpose  to  have  that  compromise  repealed. 


198  Abraham  Lincoln 

Again,  the  judge  did  not  stop  with  Mr.  Clay  when 
he  first  brought  in  his  Nebraska  bill.  He  left  the 
Missouri  Compromise  unrepealed,  and  in  his  report 
accompanying  the  bill,  he  told  the  world  he  did  it 
on  purpose.  The  manes  of  Mr.  Clay  must  have  been 
in  great  agony,  till  thirty  days  later,  when  "popular 
sovereignty"  stood  forth  in  all  its  glory. 

One  more  thing.  Last  night  Judge  Douglas  tor- 
mented himself  with  horrors  about  my  disposition  to 
make  negroes  perfectly  equal  with  white  men  in 
social  political  relations.  He  did  not  stop  to  show 
that  I  have  said  any  such  thing,  or  that  it  is  legiti- 
mately from  anything  I  have  said,  but  he  rushes  on 
with  his  assertions.  I  adhere  to  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  If  Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends 
are  not  willing  to  stand  by  it,  let  them  come  out 
and  amend  it.  Let  them  make  it  read  that  all  men 
are  created  equal  except  negroes.  Let  us  have  it 
decided,  whether  the  Declaration,  in  this  blessed 
year  of  1858,  shall  be  thus  amended.  In  his  con- 
struction of  the  Declaration  last  year,  he  said  it 
only  meant  that  Americans  in  America  were  equal 
to  Englishmen  in  England.  Then,  when  I  pointed 
out  to  him  that  by  rule  he  excludes  the  Germans, 
the  Irish,  the  Portuguese,  and  all  other  people  who 
have  come  amongst  us  since  the  Revolution,  he  re- 
constructs his  reconstruction.  In  his  last  speech  he 
tells  us  it  mean  Europeans. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  199 

I  press  him  a  little  farther,  and  ask  if  it  meant  to 
include  the  Russians  in  Asia?  or  does  he  mean 
to  exclude  that  vast  population  from  the  principles 
of  our  Declaration  of  Independence?  I  expect  ere 
long  he  will  introduce  another  amendment  to  his 
definition.  He  is  not  at  all  particular.  He  is  satis- 
fied with  anything  which  does  not  endanger  the 
nationalizing  of  negro  slavery.  It  may  draw  white 
men  down,  but  it  must  not  lift  negroes  up.  Who 
shall  say,  "I  am  the  superior,  and  you  are  the  in- 
ferior?" 

My  declarations  upon  this  subject  of  negro  slavery 
may  be  misrepresented,  but  cannot  be  misunderstood. 
I  have  said  that  I  do  not  understand  the  Declara- 
tion to  mean  that  all  men  were  created  equal  in  all 
respects.  They  are  not  our  equal  in  some  respects; 
they  are  equal  in  their  right  to  "life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Certainly  the  negro  is 
not  our  equal  in  color — perhaps  not  in  many  other 
respects;  still,  in  the  right  to  put  into  his  mouth 
the  bread  that  his  own  hands  have  earned,  he  is 
the  equal  of  every  other  man,  white  or  black.  In 
pointing  out  that  more  has  been  given  you,  you 
cannot  be  justified  in  taking  away  the  little  which 
has  been  given  him.  All  I  ask  for  the  negro  is  that 
if  you  do  not  like  him,  let  him  alone.  If  God  gave 
him  but  little,  that  little  let  him  enjoy. 

When  our  Government  was  established,  we  had 
the  institution  of  slavery  among  us.     We  were  in 


200  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  certain  sense  compelled  to  tolerate  its  existence. 
It  was  a  sort  of  necessity.  We  had  gone  through 
our  struggle  and  secured  our  own  independence. 
The  framers  of  the  Constitution  found  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  amongst  their  other  institutions  at 
the  time.  They  found  that  by  an  effort  to  eradicate 
it,  they  might  lose  much  of  what  they  had  already 
gained.  They  were  obliged  to  bow  to  the  necessity. 
They  gave  power  to  Congress  to  abolish  the  slave 
trade  at  the  end  of  twenty  years.  They  also  'pro- 
hibited it  in  the  Territories  where  it  did  not  exist. 
They  did  what  they  could  and  yielded  to  the  neces- 
sity for  the  rest.  I  also  yield  to  all  which  follows 
from  that  necessity.  What  I  would  most  desire 
would  be  the  separation  of  the  white  and  black 
races. 

I  charged  that  the  people  had  been  deceived  into 
carrying  the  last  Presidential  election,  by  the  im- 
pression that  the  people  of  the  Territories  might 
exclude  slavery  if  they  chose,  when  it  was  known  in 
advance  by  the  conspirators,  that  the  court  was  to 
decide  that  neither  Congress  nor  the  people  could 
so  exclude  slavery.  These  charges  are  more  dis- 
tinctly made  than  anything  else  in  the  speech. 

Judge  Douglas  has  carefully  read  and  re-read 
that  speech.  He  has  not  so  far  as  I  know,  con- 
tradicted those  charges.  In  the  two  speeches  which 
I  heard,  he  certainly  did  not.  On  his  own  tacit  ad- 
mission I   renew  that  charge.     I  charge  him  with 


Early  Days  in  Illinois 
having  been  a  party  to  that 


201 


deception 
slavery 


for  the   sole 


conspiracy  and  to  that 
purpose  of     nationalizing 


CHAPTER  IX 

Early  Days  in  Illinois 

The  Joint  Discussion 

|T  IS  not  our  purpose  to  give  the  speeches  of 
the  two  disputants  in  the  joint  discussion 
held  at  the  different  places  throughout  the 
State,  but  only  some  of  the  main  points  the  most 
closely  contested,  which  came  up  somewhat  spon- 
taneously during  the  process  of  the  great  debate, 
giving  the  line  of  their  argument  in  their  manner 
of  dealing  with  the  questions  at  issue  between  them 
and  before  the  country.  The  place  of  commence- 
ment was  at  Ottawa,  August  21st,  1858,  and  the 
continuous  discussions  agreed  upon  took  place  with- 
out a  break  in  dates  until  finished.  Large  audiences 
greeted  the  two  gentlemen  at  each  gathering. 

Mr.  Douglas  at  Ottawa  had  the  opening  speech, 
and  he  proposed  certain  questions,  seven  in  number, 
for  Mr.  Lincoln's  consideration  and  which  he  ex- 
pected him  to  answer  without  fail  and  without 
equivocation.  They  were  knotty  questions,  con- 
sidering all  the  conditions  and  circumstances  which 
were  before  the  country,  they  were  difficult  of  ans- 
wers. It  was  with  some  degree  of  solicitude  that 
202 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  203 

Mr.  Lincoln  set  about  his  answers.  Indeed,  he  did 
not  attempt  any  answer  to  these  interrogations  until 
he  came  to  Freeport  where  he  had  the  opening  and 
closing  speeches,  but  took  up  his  time  in  dealing 
with  other  points  raised  by  Douglas  in  his  opening 
speech  here  and  at  other  places,  which  had  been 
previously  raised.  It  is  evident  that  he  had  reserv- 
ed these  to  wisely  meditate  upon  them  before  at- 
tempting any  answers,  because  he  did  not  know  the 
disposition  his  wily  adversary  in  debate  might  make 
of  them.  These  answers,  however,  were  made  in 
a  general  way  when  he  did  attempt  them,  and  in  a 
categorical  manner  while  they  were  followed  up  in 
amplified  form  with  a  few  words  of  explanation. 
Mr.  Douglas  was  unable  to  twist  them  into  very 
much  advantage  to  himself. 

After  the  first  day's  joint  discussion  at  Ottawa 
the  disputants  went  about  making  other  speeches  un- 
til they  were  to  hold  another  by  appointment  six  days 
later  at  Freeport.  Mr.  Lincoln  made  quite  a  num- 
ber of  addresses  at  various  cities  on  his  way  thither, 
but  all  the  while  keeping  well  in  his  mind  how  he 
would  better  answer  the  interrogatories  of  Mr.  Doug- 
las. One  of  the  interrogatories  gave  Mr.  Lincoln 
no  little  concern ;  and,  doubtless,  he  would  not  have 
ventured  to  answer  it  so  soon  had  he  not  been  press- 
ed to  the  point  of  doing  so  by  his  adversary.  He 
resolved,  however,  to  answer  them  all  in  the  categor- 
ical  manner   we   have   already   indicated.     But   the 


204  Abraham  Lincoln 

manner  of  answering  this  interrogatory,  the  third 
one  in  the  list  asked  by  Douglas  in  his  Ottawa 
speech,  did  not  satisfy  the  latter,  and  it  became  a 
bone  of  contention  all  the  way  through  the  joint 
discussion. 

In  the  half  hour's  rejoinder  of  Mr.  Douglas's 
speech  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  at  Ottawa,  the  former 
complained  of  the  latter  because  he  seemed  to  pay  no 
attention  to  the  questions  asked  in  his  first  speech 
to  be  answered  by  the  latter.  In  the  first  speech  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  at  Freeport,  he  speaks  of  this.  He 
says  :"I  do  him  no  injustice  in  saying  that  he  oc- 
cupied at  least  half  of  his  rejply  in  dealing  with  me 
as  though  I  had  refused  to  answer  his  interrogato- 
ries. I  now  propose  that  I  will  answer  any  of  the 
interrogatories,  upon  condition  that  he  will  answer 
questions  from  me  not  exceeding  the  same  number 
I  give  him  an  opportunity  to  respond.  The  Judge 
remains  silent.  I  now  say  that  I  will  answer  his  in- 
terrogatories, whether  he  answers  mine  or  not;  and 
that  after  I  have  done  so,  I  shall  propound  mine  to 
him. 

"I  have  supposed  myself,  since  the  organization 
of  the  Republican  party  at  Bloomington,  in  May 
1856,  bound  as  a  party  man  by  the  platforms  of 
the  party,  then  and  since.  If  in  any  interrogatories 
which  I  shall  answer  I  go  beyond  the  scope  of  what 
is  within  these  platforms,  it  will  be  perceived  that 
no  one  is  responsible  but  myself. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  205 

"Having  said  this  much,  I  will  take  up  the  Judge's 
interrogatories  as  I  find  them  printed  in  the  Chicago 
Times,  and  answer  them  seriatim.  In  order  that 
there  may  be  no  mistake  about  it,  I  have  copied  the 
interrogatories  in  writing,  and  also  my  answers  to 
them.  The  first  one  of  these  interrogatories  is  in 
these  words : 

Question  1.  "I  desire  to  know  whether  Lincoln 
to-day  stands,  as  he  did  in  1854,  in  favor  of  the  un- 
conditional repeal  of  the  Fugitive  slave  law?"? 

Answer.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  in 
favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Fugitive 
slave  law. 

Question  2.  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he 
stands  pledged  today,  as  he  did  in  1854,  against  the 
admission  of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  Union, 
even  if  the  people  want  them?" 

Answer.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand 
pledged  against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave 
States  into  the  Union. 

^Question  3.  "I  want  to  know  whether  he 
stands  pledged  against  the  admission  of  a  new  State 
into  the  Union  with  such  a  constitution  as  the  people 
of  that  State  my  see  fit  to  make?" 

Answer.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  against  the  ad- 
mission of  a  new  State  into  the  Union  with  such  a 
Constitution  as  the  people  of  that  State  may  see 
fit  to  make. 

Question  4.     "I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands 


206  Abraham  Lincoln 

today  pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia?" 

Answer.  I  do  not  stand  today  pledged  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Question  5  :  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he 
stands  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade 
between  the  different  States  ?" 

Answer.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  the  prohi- 
bition of  the  slave-trade  between  the  different  States. 

Question  6 :  "I  desire  to  know  whether  he  stands 
pledged  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  North  as  well  as  South  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  line?" 

Answer.  I  am  impliedly,  if  not  expressly  pledg- 
ed to  a  belief  in  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to 
prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  United  States  Territories. 

Question  7:  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether 
he  is  opposed  to  the  acquisition  of  any  new  terri- 
tory unless  slavery  is  first  prohibited  therein? 

Answer.  I  am  not  generally  opposed  to  honest 
acquisition  of  territory;  and,  in  any  given  case,  I 
would  or  would  not  oppose  such  acquisition,  ac- 
cordingly as  I  might  think  such  acquisition  would 
or  would  not  aggravate  the  slavery  question  among 
ourselves. 

"Now,  my  friends,  it  will  be  perceived  upon  an 
examination  of  these  questions  and  answers,  that  so 
far  as  I  have  only  answered  that  I  was  not  pledged 
to  this,  that  or  the  other.   The  Judge  has  not  framed 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  207 

his  interrogatories  to  ask  me  anything  more  than 
this,  and  I  have  answered  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  interrogatories,  and  have  answered  truly  that  I 
am  not  pledged  at  all  upon  any  of  the  points  to  which 
I  have  answered.  But  I  am  not  disposed  to  hang 
upon  the  exact  form  of  his  interrogatory.  I  am 
rather  disposed  to  take  up  at  least  some  of  the 
questions,  and  state  what  I  really  think  upon  them. 

"As  to  the  first  one,  in  regard  to  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  I  have  never  hesitated  to  say,  and  I 
do  not  now  hesitate  to  say,  that  I  think,  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States  are  entitled  to  a  Congressional 
Fugitive  Slave  law,  further  than  that  I  think  it 
should  have  been  framed  so  as  to  be  free  from  some 
of  the  objections  that  pertain  to  it,  without  lessening 
its  efficiency.  And  inasmuch  as  we  are  not  now  in 
agitation  in  regard  to  an  alteration  or  modification 
of  that  law,  I  would  not  be  the  man  to  introduce  it 
as  a  new  subject  of  agitation  upon  the  general  ques- 
tion of  slavery.     , 

"In  regard  to  the  other  question  of  whether  I 
am  pledged  to  the  admission  of  any  more  slave 
States  into  the  Union,  I  state  to  you  very  frankly 
that  I  would  be  exceedingly  sorry  ever  to  be  put 
in  a  position  of  having  to  pass  upon  that  question. 
I  should  be  exceedingly  glacj  to  know  that  there 
would  never  be  another  slave  State  admitted  into  the 
Union;  but  I  must  add,  that  if  slavery  shall  be  kept 


208  Abraham  Lincoln 

out  of  the  Territories  during  the  territorial  exis- 
tence of  any  one  given  Territory,  and  then  the  peo- 
ple shall,  having  a  fair  chance  and  a  clear  field,  when 
they  come  to  adopt  the  Constitution,  uninfluenced  by 
the  actual  presence  of  the  institution  among  them, 
I  see  no  alternative,  if  we  own  the  country,  but  to 
admit  them  into  the  Union. 

"The  third  interrogatory  is  answered  by  the  sec- 
ond, it  being,  as  I  conceive,  the  same  as  the  second. 

"The  fourth  one  is  in  regard  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  relation  to 
that,  I  have  my  mind  very  distinctly  made  up.  I 
should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  see  slavery  abolished 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  I  believe  that  Congress 
possesses  the  constitutional  power  to  abolish  it.  Yet 
as  a  member  of  Congress,  I  should  not  with  my 
present  views,  be  in  favor  of  endeavoring  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  unless  it  would 
be  upon  these  conditions :  First,  that  the  abolition 
should  be  gradual.  Second,  that  it  should  be  on  a 
vote  of  the  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the 
District;  and  third,  that  compensation  should  be 
made  to  unwilling  owners.  With  these  three  con- 
ditions, I  confess  I  would  be  exceedingly  glad  to 
see  Congress  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and,  in  the  language  of  Henry  Clay, 
"Sweep  from  our  Capitol  that  foul  blot  upon  our 
Nation." 

"In  regard  to  the  fifth  interrogatory,  I  must  say 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  209 

here,  that  as  to  the  question  of  the  abolition  of  the 
slave-trade  between  the  different  States,  I  can  truly 
answer,  as  I  have  that  I  am  .pledged  to  nothing 
about  it.  It  is  a  subject  to  which  I  have 
not  given  that  mature  consideration  that 
would  make  me  authorized  to  state  a  posi- 
tion so  as  to  hold  myself  entirely  bound  by  it. 
In  other  words,  that  question  has  never  been  prom- 
inently enough  before  me  to  induce  me  to  investi- 
gate it  if  I  had  sufficient  time,  to  bring  myself  to  a 
conclusion  upon  that  subject;  but  I  have  not  done 
so,  and  I  say  so  frankly  to  you  here,  and  to  Judge 
Douglas.  I  must  say,  however,  that  if  I  should  be  of 
opinion  that  Congress  does  possess  the  constitutional 
power  to  abolish  the  slave-trade  among  the  different 
States,  I  should  still  not  be  in  favor  of  the  exercise 
of  that  power  unless  upon  some  conservative  princi- 
ple as  I  conceive  it,  akin  to  what  I  have  said  in 
relation  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

"My  answer  as  to  whether  I  desire  that  slavery 
be  prohibited  in  all  the  Territories  of  the  United 
States,  is  full  and  explicit  within  itself,  and  cannot 
be  made  clearer  by  any  comments  of  mine.  So  I 
suppose  in  regard  to  the  question  whether  I  am  op- 
posed to  the  acquisition  of  any  more  territory 
unless  slavery  is  first  prohibited  therein,  my 
answer  is  such  that  I  could  add  nothing  by  way  of 
illustration,  or  making  myself  better  understood, 
than  the  answer  which  I  have  placed  in  writing. 


210  Abraham  Lincoln 

"Now  in  all  this  the  Judge  has  me,  and  he  has 
me  on  my  record.  I  suppose  he  had  flattered  him- 
self that  I  was  really  entertaining  one  set  of  opinions 
for  one  place  and  another  set  for  another  place — 
that  I  was  afraid  to  say  at  one  place  what  I  uttered 
at  another.  What  I  am  saying  here  I  suppose  I 
say  to  a  vast  audience  as  strongly  tending  to  Aboli- 
tionism as  any  audience  in  the  State  of  Illinois, 
and  I  believe  I  am  saying  that  which  if  it  would  be 
offensive  to  any  persons  and  render  them  enemies 
to  myself,  would  be  offensive  to  persons  in  this 
audience. 

"Now  I  proceed  to  propound  to  the  judge  the 
interrogatories,  so  far  as  I  framed  them.  I  will 
bring  them  forward  now,  only  reaching  to  number 
four. 

The  first  one  is : 

Question  I.  If  the  people  of  Kansas  shall,  by 
means  entirely  unobjectionable  in  all  respects,  adopt 
a  State  Constitution,  and  ask  admission  into  the 
Union  under  it  before  they  have  the  requisite  number 
of  inhabitants  according  to  the  English  bill — some 
ninety-three  thousand — will  you  vote  to  admit  them  ? 

Question  II.  Can  the  people  of  the  United  States 
Territory,  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the  wish  of 
any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  slavery 
from  its  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State 
Constitution  ? 

Question  III.  If  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  211 

States  shall  decide  that  States  cannot  exclude  slavery 
from  their  limits,  are  you  in  favor  of  acquiescing 
in,  adopting  and  following  such  decision  as  a  rule 
of  political  action? 

Question  IV.  Are  you  in  favor  of  acquiring  ad- 
ditional territory,  in  disregard  of  how  such  ac- 
quisition may  affect  the  nation  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion?" 

The  questions  and  answers  propounded  to  each 
other  are  about  all  the  writer  desires  to  bring  up  in 
these  notes  on  the  Freeport  speeches  of  the  an- 
tagonists. They  were  chokers  to  each  other  and 
designedly  so  as  regarded  by  their  friends,  much  de- 
pending as  to  success  upon  the  manner  of  their 
answers  at  the  coming  election.  Mr.  Lincoln's  po- 
litical friends  did  not  approve  of  the  policy  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  second  question  to  Mr.  Douglas  for  the 
reason  they  were  apprehensive  that  he  would  answer 
it  in  the  affirmative,  which  would  lead  to  his  de- 
feat for  the  senatorship.  That  question  had  a  his- 
tory, and  a  conference  was  held  beforehand  between 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  a  few  of  his  supporters  at  Dixon, 
among  whom  were  Mr.  Norma  B.  Judd  and  Dr. 
C.  H.  Ray,  the  editor-in-chief  of  the  Tribune.  They 
counselled  Mr,  Lincoln  not  to  put  that  question  to 
Mr.  Douglas  for  the  reason  given  above.  "They 
believed  the  latter  would  leave  the  *  subject 
alone  as  much  as  possible  in  order  not  to 
offend  the  South,  unless  he  should  be  driven  into 


212  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  corner."  What  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  reply?  It  was 
this :  "An  affirmative  answer  from  Douglas  on  this 
question  was  exactly  what  he  wanted,  and  that  his 
object  was  to  make  it  impossible  for  Douglas  to  get 
the  vote  of  the  Southern  States  in  the  next  Presiden- 
tial election.  He  considered  that  fight  much  more  im- 
portant than  the  present  one  and  he  would  be  will- 
ing to  lose  this  in  order  to  win  that/'  is  the  word  of 
Mr.  Horace  White.  The  exact  words  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln appear  to  have  been,  "I  am  after  larger  game; 
the  battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hundred  of  this." 

Mr.  White  further  adds  in  this  matter:  "The 
result  justified  Mr.  Lincoln's  prevision.  Douglas 
did  answer  in  the  affirmative.  If  he  had  answered 
in  the  negative  he  would  have  lost  the  senatorial 
election,  and  that  would  have  ended  his  political 
career.  He  took  the  chance  of  being  able  to  make 
satisfactory  explanations  to  the  slaveholders,  but 
they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him  afterwards. 
"After  the  debate  was  finished,  we  Republicans  did 
not  feel  happy.  We  held  the  same  opinion  that 
Mr.  Judd  and  Dr.  Ray  had — that  Douglas's  answer 
had  probably  saved  him  from  defeat.  We  did  not  look 
forward,  we  did  not  look  South ;  even  if  we  had  done 
so,  we  were  too  much  enlisted  in  this  campaign  to 
swap  it  for  another  one  which  was  two  years  dis- 
tant. Mr.  Lincoln's  wisdom  was  soon  vindicated  by 
his  antagonist,  one  of  whose  earliest  acts,  after  he 
returned  to  Washington  City,  was  to  make  a  speech 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  213 

(February  23rd  1859)  defending  himself  against 
attacks  upon  'Freeport  heresy,'  as  the  Southerners 
called  it.  In  that  debate  Jefferson  Davis  was  par- 
ticularly aggravating  and  Douglas  did  not  reply  to 
his  with  his  usual  spirit." 

I  give  here  the  answers  of  Mr.  Douglas  to  Mr. 
Lincolns  four  questions  to  him!  in  the  joint  dis- 
cussion at  Freeport : 

"First,  he  desires  to  know  if  the  people  of  Kansas 
shall  form  a  constitution  by  means  entirely  proper 
and  unobjectionable  and  ask  admission  into  the 
Union  as  a  State,  before  they  have  the  requisite 
population  for  a  member  of  Congress,  whether  I 
will  vote  for  that  admission.  Well,  now,  I  regret 
exceedingly  that  he  did  not  answer  that  interro- 
gatory himself  before  he  put  it  to  me,  in  order  that 
we  might  understand,  and  not  be  left  to  infer,  on 
which  side  he  is.  Mr.  Trumbull,  during  the  last 
session  of  Congress,  voted  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  against  the  admission  of  Oregon,  although 
a  free  State,  because  she  had  not  the  requisite 
population  for  a  member  of  Congress.  Mr.  Trum- 
bull would  not  consent,  under  any  circumstances,  to 
let  a  State,  free  or  slave,  come  into  the  Union  until 
it  had  the  requisite  population.  As  Mr.  Trumbull  is 
in  the  field  fighting  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  would  like 
to  have  Mr.  Lincoln  answer  his  own  question  and 
tell  me  whether  he  is  fighting  Trumbull  on  this  issue 
or  not.     But  I  will  answer  his  question.     In  refer- 


214  Abraham  Lincoln 

ence  to  Kansas,  it  is  my  opinion,  that  as  she  has 
population  enough  to  constitute  a  slave  State,  she 
has  people  enough  for  a  free  State.  I  will  not  make 
Kansas  an  exceptional  case  to  other  States  of  the 
Union.  I  hold  it  to  be  a  sound  rule  of  universal 
application  to  require  a  Territory  to  contain  the  re- 
quisite population  for  a  member  of  Congress,  before 
it  is  admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union.  I  made  that 
proposition  in  the  Senate  in  1856,  and  I  renewed  it 
during  the  last  session,  in  a  bill  providing  that  no 
Territory  of  the  United  States  should  form  a  Con- 
stitution and  apply  for  admission  until  it  had  the  re- 
quisite population.  On  another  occasion  I  proposed 
that  neither  Kansas,  or  any  other  Territory,  should 
be  admitted  until  it  had  the  requisite  population.  Con- 
gress did  not  adopt  any  of  my  propositions  con- 
taining this  general  rule,  but  did  make  an  exception 
of  Kansas.  I  will  stand  by  that  exception.  Either 
Kansas  must  come  in  as  a  free  State,  with  what- 
ever population  she  may  have,  or  the  rule  must  be 
applied  to  all  the  other  Territories  alike.  I  therefore 
answer  at  once,  that  it  having  been  decided  that 
Kansas  has  people  enough  for  a  slave  State,  I  hold 
that  she  has  enough  for  a  free  state.  I  hope  Mr. 
Lincoln  is  satisfied  with  my  answer;  and  now  I 
would  like  to  get  his  answer  to  his  own  interrogatory 
— whether  or  not  he  will  vote  to  admit  Oregon 
before  that  Territory  has  the  requisite  population. 
Mr.   Trumbell  will  not,  and  the  same  reason  that 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  215 

commits  Mr.  Trumbell  against  the  admission  of 
Oregon,  commits  him  against  Kansas,  even  if  she 
should  apply  for  admission  as  a  free  state.  If  there 
is  any  sincerity,  any  truth,  in  the  argument  of  Mr. 
Trumbull  in  the  Senate,  against  the  admission  of 
Oregon  because  she  had  not  93,420  people,  although 
her  population  was  larger  than  that  of  Kansas,  he 
stands  pledged  against  the  admission  of  both  Oregon 
and  Kansas  until  they  have  93,420  inhabitants.  I 
would  like  Mr.  Lincoln  to  answer  this  question.  I 
would  like  him  to  take  his  own  medicine.  If  he 
differs  with  Mr.  Trumbull  let  him  answer  his  ar- 
gument against  the  admission  of  Oregon,  instead  of 
poking  questions  at  me. 

'The  next  question  propounded  to  me  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  is,  can  the  people  of  a  Territory  in  any  law- 
ful way,  against  the  wishes  of  any  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits  prior 
to  the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution?  I  answer 
temphatically,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  has  heard  me  answer 
a  hundred  times  from  every  stump  in  Illinois,  that 
in  my  opinion  the  people  of  a  Territory  can,  by  law- 
ful means,  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits  prior  to 
the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution.  Mr.  Lincoln 
knew  that  I  had  answered  that  question  over  and  over 
again.  He  heard  me  argue  the  Nebraska  bill  on  that 
principle  all  over  the  State  in  1854,  in  1855,  and 
1856,  and  he  has  no  excuse  for  pretending  to  be 
in  doubt  as  to  my  position  on  that  question.   It  mat- 


216  Abraham  Lincoln 

ters  not  what  way  the  Supreme  Court  may  hereafter 
decide  as  to  the  abstract  question  whether  slavery 
may  or  may  not  go  into  a  Territory  under  the  Con- 
stitution, the  people  have  the  lawful  means  to  intro- 
duce it  or  exclude  it  as  they  please,  for  the  reason  that 
slavery  cannot  exist  a  day  or  an  hour  anywhere,  un- 
less it  is  supported  by  local  police  regulations.  Those 
police  regulations  can  only  be  established  by  the  local 
legislature,  and  if  the  people  are  opposed  to  slavery 
they  will  elect  representatives  to  that  body  who  will  by 
unfriendly  legislation  effectually  prevent  the  intro- 
duction of  it  into  their  midst.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  for  it,  their  legislation  will  favor  its  exten- 
sion. Hence,  no  matter  what  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  may  be  on  that  abstract  question,  still 
the  right  of  the  people  to  make  a  slave  Territory  is 
perfect  and  complete  under  the  Nebraska  bill.  I 
hope  Mr.  Lincoln  deems  my  manner  satisfactory 
on  that  point.  *   *   *   * 

"The  third  question  which  Mr.  Lincoln  present- 
ed is,  if  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
shall  decide  that  a  State  of  this  Union  cannot  ex- 
clude slavery  from  its  own  limits,  will  I  submit 
to  it?  I  am  amazed  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should  ask 
such  a  question.  ["A  school-boy  knows  better"] 
Yes,  a  school-boy  does  know  better.  Mr.  Lincoln's 
object  is  to  cast  an  imputation  upon  the  Supreme 
Court.  He  knows  that  there  never  was  but  one 
man  in  America,  claiming  any  degree  of  intelligence 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  217 

or  decency,  who  ever  for  a  moment  pretended  such  a 
thing.  It  is  true  that  the  Washington  Union,  in 
an  article  published  on  the  17th  of  last  December, 
did  put  forth  that  doctrine,  and  I  denounced  the  ar- 
ticle on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  in  a  speech  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  now  pretends  was  against  the  Pres- 
ident. The  Union  had  claimed  that  slavery  had  a 
right  to  go  into  the  free  States  and  that  any  pro- 
vision in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  free  States 
to  the  contrary  were  null  and  void.  I  denounced 
it  in  the  Senate,  as  I  said  before,  and  I  was  the  first 
man  who  did.  Lincoln's  friends,  Trumbull,  and 
Seward,  and  Hale,  and  Wilson,  and  the  whole  Black 
Republican  side  of  the  Senate,  were  silent.  They 
left  it  to  me  to  denounce  it.  And  what  was  the  reply 
made  to  me  on  that  occasion?  Mr.  Toombs,  of 
Georgia,  got  up  and  undertook  to  lecture  me  on  the 
ground  that  I  ought  not  to  have  deemed  the  article 
worthy  of  notice,  and  ought  not  to  have  replied  to 
it :  that  there  was  not  one  man,  woman  or  child 
South  of  the  Potomac,  in  any  slave  State,  who  did 
not  repudiate  any  such  pretension.  Mr.  Lincoln 
knows  that  that  reply  was  made  on  he  spot,  and  yet 
now  he  asks  this  question.  He  might  as  well  ask 
me,  suppose  Mr.  Lincoln  should  steal  a  horse 
would  I  sustain  it ;  and  it  would  be  as  genteel  in  me 
to  ask  him,  in  the  event  he  stole  a  horse,  what  ought 
to  be  done  with  him.  He  casts  an  imputation  upon 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  by  suppos- 


218  Abraham  Lincoln 

ing  that  they  would  violate  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  I  tell  him  that  such  a  thing  is  not 
possible.  It  would  be  an  act  of  moral  treason  that 
no  man  on  the  bench  could  ever  descend  to.  Mr. 
Lincoln  himself  would  never  in  his  partisan  feelings 
so  far  forget  what  was  right  as  to  be  guilty  of  such 
an  act. 

''The  fourth  question  of  Mr.  Lincoln  is,  are  you  in 
favor  of  acquiring  additional  territory,  in  disregard 
as  to  how  such  acquisition  may  affect  the  Union  on 
the  slavery  question?  This  question  is  very  inge- 
niously and  cunningly  put. 

"The  Black  Republican  creed  lays  it  down  ex- 
pressly, that  under  no  circumstances  shall  we  ac- 
quire any  more  territory  unless  slavery  is  first  pro- 
hibited in  the  country.  I  ask  Mr.  Lincoln  whether 
he  is  in  favor  of  that  proposition.  Are  you  [ad- 
dressing Mr.  Lincoln]  opposed  to  the  acquisition 
of  any  more  territory,  under  any  circumstances,  un- 
less slavery  is  prohibited  in  it?  That  he  does  not 
like  to  answer.  When  I  ask  him  whether  he  stands 
up  to  that  article  in  the  platform  of  his  party,  he 
turns  Yankee  fashion,  and  without  answering  it,  asks 
me  whether  I  am  in  favor  of  acquiring  territory 
without  regard  to  how  it  may  affect  the  Union  on  the 
slavery  question  ?  I  answer  that  I  am  in  favor  of  it, 
without  reference  to  the  question  of  slavery,  and 
when  we  have  acquired  it,  I  will  leave  the  people 
free    to  do  as  they  please,  either  to  make  it  a  slave 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  219 

or  free  territory,  as  they  prefer.  It  is  idle  to  tell 
me  or  you  that  we  have  territory  enough.  Our 
fathers  supposed  that  we  had  enough  when  our  ter- 
ritory extended  to  the  Mississippi  river,  but  a  few 
years'  growth  and  expansion  satisfied  them  that  we 
needed  more,  and  the  Louisiana  territory,  from  the 
West  branch  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  British  pos- 
sessions, was  acquired.  Then  we  acquired  Oregon, 
then  California  and  New  Mexico.  We  have  enough 
now  for  the  present,  but  this  is  a  young  and  growing 
nation.  It  swarms  as  often  as  a  hive  of  bees,  and 
as  new  swarms  are  turned  out  each  year,  there  must 
be  hives  in  which  they  can  gather  and  make  their 
honey.  Just  as  fast  as  our  interests  grow  and  our 
destiny  require  additional  territory~I  am  for  it,  and 
when  we  acquire  it,  will  leave  the  people,  according 
to  the  Nebraska  bill,  free  to  do  as  they  please  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  every  other  question. 

"I  trust  that  now  Mr.  Lincoln  will  deem  himself 
answered  on  his  four  points.  He  racked  his  brain 
so  much  in  devising  these  four  questions  that  he 
exhausted  himself,  and  had  not  strength  enough  to 
invent  the  others.  As  soon  as  he  is  able  to  hold  a 
council  with  his  advisers,  Lovejoy,  Farnsworth,  and 
Fred  Douglas,  he  will  frame  and  propound  others." 

This  ended  the  palaver  at  Freeport  so  far  as  con- 
cerns the  questions  and  their  answers  which  had  been 
up  for  discussion  except  a  brief  paragraph  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  closing  speech  in  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas. 


220  Abraham  Lincoln 

Neither  of  them  seemed  satisfied  with  the  answers 
which  had  been  given,  and  they  were  renewed  or  re- 
sumed a  little  more  than  two  weeks  later  at  Jones- 
boro  in  which  there  was  a  good  deal  of  time  consum- 
ed and,  figuratively  speaking,  a  good  deal  of  fur 
flew  in  the  course  of  their  arguments,  for  things 
waxed  warmer  as  the  debate  progressed. 

I  desire  to  give  that  brief  paragraph  before  pass- 
ing on  to  the  discussion  at  Jonesboro.  It  reads 
thus :  "The  Judge  complains  that  I  did  not  fully  an- 
swer his  questions.  If  I  have  sense  to  comprehend 
and  answer  those  questions,  I  have  done  so  fairly. 
If  it  can  be  pointed  out  to  me  how  I  can  more  fully 
and  fairly  answer  him,  I  aver  I  have  not  the  sense 
to  see  how  it  is  to  be  done.  He  says  I  would  not 
declare  I  would  in  any  event  vote  for  the  admission 
of  a  slave  State  into  the  Union.  If  I  have  been 
fairly  reported  he  will  see  that  I  did  give  an  ex- 
plicit answer  to  his  interrogatories,  I  did  not  merely 
say  that  I  would  dislike  to  be  put  to  the  test :  but  I 
said  clearly,  if  I  were  put  to  the  test,  and  a  territory 
from  which  slavery  had  been  excluded  should  present 
herself  with  a  State  Constitution  sanctioning  slavery 
a  most  extraordinary  thing,  wholly  unlikely  to  hap- 
pen— I  did  not  see  how  I  could  avoid  voting  for  her 
admission.  But  he  refused  to  understand  that  I  said 
so,  and  he  wants  this  audience  to  understand  that 
I  did  not  say  so.  Yet  it  will  be  so  reported  in 
the  printed  speech  that  he  cannot  help  seeing  it. 


Line  Early  Days  in  Illinois  221 

Here 

Freeport,  Mr.  Lincoln  grouped  the  second  and  thir8 
questions  together  as  one,  conceiving  them  as  prac- 
tically of  the  same  import  and  stating  at  the  time 
that  "the  third  is  answered  by  the  second."  I  do 
not  find  anywhere  throughout  the  whole  joint  de- 
bate that  he  made  any  special  effort  to  do  other- 
wise. The  whole  question  that  was  between  them 
was  the  slavery  question,  its  extension  into  new  ter- 
ritory or  its  confinement  to  the  States  where  it  was 
already   in  existence. 

After  the  joint  debate  at  Freeport,  August  27th, 
and  the  day  for  i!  renewal  at  Jonesboro,  Sept.  25th, 
some  two  weeks  and  more  intervened,  and  Mr.  Lin- 
coln had  some  little  time  outside  of  his  other  appoint- 
ments, to  spend  at  his  home  in  Springfield  with  the 
friends,  and  to  counsel  with  them,  if  need  be.  Some 
were  a  little  "ill  at  ease"  with  him,  because  of  the 
questions  and  answers  which  had  been  proposed  to 
each  other  and  the  manner  of  the  answers,  especial- 
ly the  second  question  of  Mr.  Lincoln  of  the  four 
propounded  in  the  group  at  Freeport.  They  were 
not  as  far-seeing  as  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  did  not  wish 
to  surrender  the  Senatorship.  Even  Uncle  Jesse  K. 
Dubois  came  in  with  his  complaint  under  this  head 
as  he  had  done  with  his  "divided  house  clause". 
The  latter  was  our  State  Auditor,  a  familiar  per- 
sonage at  Springfield  where  nearly  everybody  called 
him    familiarly    "Uncle   Jesse".     He   thought    Mr. 

In  answering   Mr.   Douglas's   interrogatories  at 


222  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln  had  been  placed  in  an  unfavorable  light  in 
not  taking  up  with  the  counsel  of  his  friends.  But 
Mr.  Lincoln  saw  that  the  tide  was  turning,  and  put 
the  question  to  suit  himself.  Uncle  Jesse  declared  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  that  "he  had  elected  Mr.  Douglas  Unit- 
ed States  Senator".  To  which  Mr.  Lincoln  re- 
plied,"Well,  Jesse,  it  may  be  as  you  say,  I  have  elect- 
ed Mr.  Douglas  Senator,  but  I  have  elected  a  repub- 
lican President  in  1860".  And  so  it  proved,  for  he 
himself  was  elected. 

As  respects  the  questions  proposed  to  him  at  Ot- 
tawa, only  that  one  which  was  in  reference  to  the  ad- 
mission of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  Union 
gave  him  trouble ;  and  only  so  because  of  the  com- 
promising position  in  which  he  might  be  brought 
with  respect  to  his  party.  His  answer  to  this  could 
not  help  being  considered  weak  and  reluctant.  In- 
deed, Mr.  Lincoln  himself  felt  that  in  this  regard 
the  advantage  had  been  with  his  wily  disputant.  Be- 
cause of  this  he  was  led  to  seek  out  his  old  friend, 
Mr.  George  R.  Weber  for  a  little  counsel.  To  get 
even  with  Douglas  was  one  reason  he  had  asked 
him  the  much  mooted  second  question  proposed  at 
Freeport.  Mr.  Weber  told  the  writer  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln sought  him  at  his  printing  office  and  that  they 
retired  to  his  private  office  at  his  establishment 
where  Mr.  Lincoln  laid  bare  the  whole  matter  of 
all  the  questions  and  the  replies  which  had  been  sub- 
mitted by  each,  and  which  had  given  him  difficulty 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  223 

to  answer,  as  he  would  like,  without  compromising 
his  party,  and  jeopardising  the  cause  of  the  repub- 
licans for  the  United  States  Senatorship.  And  to- 
gether they  went  over  the  entire  ground  of  the  ques- 
tions and  answers  and  the  line  of  argument  to  be 
taken  by  Mr.  Lincoln  if  it  were  found  convenient 
to  bring  the  matter  up  at  the  next  place  of  the  joint 
discussion,  which  was  at  Jonesboro,  or  as  soon  as  it 
was  deemed  possible.  The  plan  seems  to  have  been 
to  nurse  along  the  great  question  of  slavery  in  leav- 
ing it  as  much  as  possible  in  reserve  for  his  great 
argument  and  his  hard  and  telling  hits  until  it  came 
to  the  last  place  of  the  joint  discussion  at  Alton.  The 
few  hints  and  suggestions  by  his  friends  were  suf- 
ficient for  the  basis  of  amplification  to  a  great  mind 
like  Mr.  Lincoln. 

At  the  next  place  of  meeting,  Jonesboro,  Mr. 
Douglas  had  the  opening  and  closing  speeches.  He 
did  not  refer  in  his  first  speech  to  the  subject  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  answer  to  his  third  interrogatory  proposed 
in  his  Ottawa  speech,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  wisely  let  it 
drop  out  of  sight  in  order  to  take  up  the  answer  of 
Judge  Douglas  to  the  second  question  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
proposed  at  Freeport,  which  Lincoln's  friends  did  not 
wish  him  to  ask,  and  he  straightway  subjected  it  to 
a  rigid  and  thorough  analysis.  This  was  in  range 
with  the  conversation  which  he  had  with  Mr.  Weber. 
It  was  not  until  the  second  speech  of  Mr.  Douglas 
in  reply  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  that  he  brought  up 


224  Abraham  Lincoln 

his  own  interrogatory,  when,  of  course,  Lincoln 
could  not  reply.  This  worked  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  ad- 
vantage in  postponing  anything  which  he  might  have 
to  say  upon  it  until  a  later  date.  At  Charleston 
other  subject-matter  engaged  their  entire  attention, 
and  gave  opportunity  for  its  further  postponement. 

I  repeat  that  Mr.  Douglas  had  the  opening  ad- 
dress at  Jonesboro,  and  that  in  it  he  did  not  bring  up 
the  matter  of  the  questions  and  their  answers.  But 
towards  the  latter  half  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  address  it 
became  convenient  for  him  to  bring  up  the  matter 
of  the  answer  of  Judge  Douglas  to  his  second 
question  proposed  to  the  latter  at  Freeport.  It  is 
seldom  we  read  in  a  stump  speech  a  more  skillful  and 
judicious  handling  than  the  sophistry  of  Mr.  Doug- 
las received  which  he  had  used  to  build  up  his  pet 
scheme  to  uphold  the  legal  aspect  of  slavery  in  its 
spread  into  new  territory  acquired  by  the  United 
States.* 

Mr.  Lincoln  says :  "The  Judge  in  answering  me 
upon  that  occasion,  put  in  what  I  suppose  he  intends 
as  answers  to  all  four  of  my  interrogatories.  The 
first  one  of  these  interrogatories  I  have  before  me, 
''Question    1.     If   the   people   of   Kansas   shall,   by 

*  It  is  evident  that  Mr.  Lincoln  felt  grateful  to  Mr.  Weber  for 
his  suggestions  many  of  which  were  fitted  into  the  above  named 
speech  at  Jonesboro  in  the  argument  he  made  against  the  answer 
of  Mr.  Douglas  to  the  second  interrogatory  proposed  at  Free- 
port.  After  the  debates  were  over  and  after  Mr.  Lincoln  was  el- 
ected and  before  being  inaugurated,  he  presented  Mr.  Weber  with 
a  copy  of  the  discussions  with  his  own  markings  and  his  autograph. 
This  book  is  now  a  very  valiubble  book.  It  is  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  John  R.  Weber  of  Cedar  Rapids.,  Iowa.  Before  this 
it  was  for  some  months  in  the  possession,  of  the  writer.  During  this 
time,  he  exhibited  it  to   quite  a  number  of  people. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  225 

means  entirely  unobjectionable  in  all  respects,  adopt 
a  State  Constitution,  and  ask  admission  into  the 
Union  under  it,  before  they  have  the  requisite  num- 
ber of  inhabitants  according  to  the  English  bill — 
some  ninety-three  thousand — will  you  vote  to  admit 
them?" 

"As  I  read  the  Judges'  answer  in  the  newspaper, 
and  as  I  remember  it  as  pronounced  at  the  time,  he 
does  not  give  any  answer  which  is  equivalent  to  yes 
or  no — I  will  or  I  wo'nt.  He  answers  at  very  con- 
siderable length,  rather  quarrelling  with  me  for  ask- 
ing the  question,  and  insisting  that  Judge  Trumbull 
had  done  something  that  I  ought  to  say  something 
about ;  and  finally  getting  out  such  statements  as  in- 
duce me  to  infer  that  he  means  to  be  understood  he 
will,  in  that  supposed  case,  vote  for  the  admission  of 
Kansas.  I  only  bring  this  forward  now  for  the  pur- 
pose of  saying  that  if  he  chooses  to  put  a  different 
construction  upon  his  answer  he  may  do  it.  But  if 
he  does  not,  I  shall  from  this  time  forward  assume 
that  he  will  vote  for  the  admission  of  Kansas  in  dis- 
regard of  the  English  bill.  He  has  the  right  to  re- 
move any  misunderstanding  I  may  have.  I  only 
mention  it  now  that  I  may  hereafter  assume  this  to 
be  the  true  construction  of  his  answer,  if  he  does 
not  choose  to  correct  me. 

"The  second  interrogatory  that  I  pronounced 
to  him,  was  this  :"Question  2.  Can  the  people  of  the 
United  States  Territory,  in  any  lawful  way,  against 


226  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude 
slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a 
States  Constitution?"  To  this  Judge  Douglas  ans- 
wered that  they  can  lawfully  exclude  slavery  from 
the  Territory  prior  to  the  formation  of  a  Constitu- 
tion. He  goes  on  to  tell  us  how  it  can  be  done.  As 
I  understand  him,  he  holds  that  it  can  be  done  by  the 
Territorial  Legislature  refusing  to  make  any  enact- 
ments for  the  protection  of  slavery  in  the  Territory, 
and  especially  by  adopting  unfriendly  legislation  to 
it.  For  the  sake  of  clearness  I  state  it  again;  that 
they  can  exclude  slavery  from  the  Territory,  1st  by 
withholding  what  he  assumes  to  be  an  indispensable 
assistance  to  it  in  the  way  of  legislation ;  and  2nd,  by 
unfriendly  legislation.  If  I  rightly  understand  him, 
I  wish  to  ask  your  attention  for  a  while  to  his  posi- 
tion. 

"In  the  first  place,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  has  decided  that  any  Congressional 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  is  unconsti- 
tutional— that  they  have  reached  this  proposition  as 
a  conclusion  from  their  former  proposition,  that  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  expressly  recogniz- 
es property  in  slaves,  and  from  that  other  Consti- 
tutional provision,  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived 
of  property  without  due  process  of  law.  Hence  they 
reach  the  conclusion  that  as  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  expressly  recognizes  property  in  slaves, 
and  prohibits  any  person   from  being  deprived  of 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  227 

property  without  due  process  of  law,  to  pass  an  act 
of  Congress  by  which  a  man  who  owned  a  slave  on 
one  side  of  a  line  would  be  deprived  of  him  if  he  took 
him  on  the  other  side,  is  depriving  him  of  that  proper- 
ty without  due  process  of  law.  That  I  understand 
to  be  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  I  under- 
stand also  that  Judge  Douglas  adheres  most  firmly 
to  that  decision;  and  the  difficulty  is,  how  is  it  pos- 
sible for  any  power  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Ter- 
ritory unless  in  violation  of  that  decision?  That  is 
the  difficulty. 

"In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  1850, 
Judge  Trumbull,  in  a  speech,  substantially,  if  not 
directly,  put  the  same  interrogatory  to  Judge  Doug- 
las, as  to  whether  the  people  of  a  Territory  had  the 
lawful  power  to  exclude  slavery  prior  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Constitution?  Judge  Douglas  then  an- 
swered at  considerable  length,  and  his  answer  will  be 
found  in  the  Congressional  Globe,  under  date  of 
June  9th,  1856.  The  Judge  said  that  whether  the 
people  could  exclude  slavery  prior  to  the  formation 
of  a  Constitution  or  not  was  a  question  to  be  decid- 
ed by  the  Supreme  Court.  He  put  that  proposition, 
as  will  be  seen  by  the  Congressional  Globe,  in  a  va- 
riety of  forms,  all  running  to  the  same  thing  in  sub- 
stance— that  it  was  a  question  for  the  Supreme  Court. 
I  maintain  that  when  he  says,  after  the  Supreme 
Court  have   decided  the  question,   that  the  people 


228  Abraham  Lincoln 

may  yet  exclude  slavery  by  any  means  whatever,  he 
does  virtually  say,  that  it  is  not  a  question  for  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  shifts  his  ground.  I  appeal 
to  you  whether  he  did  not  say  it  was  a  question  for 
the  Supreme  Court?  Has  not  the  Supreme  Court 
decided  that  question?  Does  he  not  virtually  shift 
his  ground  and  say  that  it  is  not  a  question  for  the 
Supreme  Court,  but  for  the  people?  This  is  a  very 
simple  proposition — a  very  plain  and  naked  one.  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  deciding  it. 
In  a  variety  of  ways  he  said  that  it  was  a  question 
for  the  Supreme  Court.  He  did  not  stop  then  to  tell 
us  that  whatever  the  Supreme  Court  decides,  the  peo- 
ple can  by  withholding  necessary  "police  regulations" 
keep  slavery  out.  He  did  not  make  any  such  an- 
swer. I  submit  to  you  now,  whether  the  new  state  of 
the  case  has  not  induced  the  Judge  to  sheer  away 
from  his  original  ground.  Would  not  this  be  the 
impression  to  every  fair  minded  man? 

"I  hold  that  the  proposition  that  slavery  cannot 
enter  a  new  country  without  police  regulations  is  his- 
torically false.  It  is  not  true  at  all.  I  hold  that  the 
history  of  this  country  shows  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  originally  planted  upon  this  continent 
without  these  "police  regulations"  which  the  Judge 
now  thinks  necessary  for  the  actual  establishment  of 
it.  Not  only  so,  but  is  there  not  another  fact — how 
came  this  Dred  Scott  decision  to  be  made?  It  was 
made  upon  the  case  of  a  negro  being  taken  and  ac- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  229 

tually  held  in  slavery  in  Minnesota  Territory,  claim- 
ing his  freedom  because  the  act  of  Congress  prohibit- 
ed his  being  so  held  there.  Will  the  Judge  pretend 
that  Dred  Scott  was  not  held  there  without  police 
regulations  ?  There  is  at  least  one  matter  of  record 
not  only  without  police  regulations,  but  in  the  teeth 
of  Congressional  legislation  supposed  to  be  valid  at 
the  time.  This  shows  that  there  is  vigor  enough  in 
slavery  to  plant  itself  in  a  new  country  even  against 
unfriendly  legislation.  It  takes  not  only  law  but  the 
enforcement  of  law  to  keep  it  out.  That  is  the  his- 
tory of  this  country  upon  the  subject. 

I  will  ask  one  other  question.  It  being  un- 
derstood that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  guarantees  property  in  slaves  in  the  Ter- 
ritories, if  there  is  any  infringement  of  the  right 
of  that  property,  would  not  the  United  States  Courts, 
organized  for  the  government  of  the  Territory,  ap- 
ply such  remedy  as  might  be  necessary  in  that  case  ? 
It  is  a  maxim  held  by  the  courts,  that  there  is  no 
wrong  without  its  remedy ;  and  the  courts  have  a 
remedy  for  whatever  is  acknowledged  and  treated 
as  a  wrong.  Again:  I  will  ask  you,  my  friends,  if 
you  were  elected  members  of  the  legislature,  what 
would  be  the  first  thing  you  would  have  to  do  be- 
fore entering  upon  your  duties?  Swear  to  support 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Suppose  you 
believe,  as  Judge  Douglas  does,  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  guarantees  to  your  neighbor 


230  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  right  to  hold  slaves  in  that  Territory — that 
they  are  his  property — how  can  you  clear  your  oaths 
unless  you  give  him  such  legislation  as  is  necessary 
to  enable  him  to  enjoy  that  property  ?  What  do  you 
understand  by  supporting  the  Constitution  of  a  State, 
or  of  the  United  States?  Is  it  not  to  give  such  con- 
stitutional helps  to  the  rights  established  by  that  Con- 
stitution as  may  be  practically  needed?  Can  you,  if 
you  swear  to  support  the  Constitution  and  believe 
that  the  Constitution  establishes  a  right,  clear  your 
oath,  without  giving  it  support?  Do  you  support 
the  Constitution  if,  knowing  or  believing  there  is  a 
right  established  under  it  which  needs  specific  legis- 
lation, you  withhold  that  legislation?  Do  you  not 
violate  and  disregard  your  oath?  I  can  conceive  of 
nothing  plainer  in  the  world.  There  can  be  nothing 
in  the  words  "support  the  Constitution,"  if  you  may 
run  counter  to  it  by  refusing  suport  to  any  right 
established  under  the  Constitution.  And  what  I  say 
here  will  hold  with  still  more  force  against  the 
Judge's  doctrine  of  "unfriendly  legislation."  How 
could  you  having  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution, 
and  believing  it  guaranteed  the  right  to  hold  slaves 
in  the  Territories,  assist  in  legislation  intended  to  de- 
feat the  right?  That  would  be  violating  your  own 
view  of  the  Constitution.  Not  only  so,  but  if  you 
were  to  do  so,  how  long  would  it  take  the  Courts  to 
hold  your  votes  unconstitutional  and  void?  Not  a 
moment. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  231 

"Lastly,  I  would  ask,  is  not  Congress,  itself,  un- 
der obligation  to  give  legislative  support  to  any 
right  that  is  established  under  the  United  States 
Constitution?  I  repeat  the  question — is  not  Con- 
gress, itself,  bound  to  give  legislative  support  to  any 
right  that  is  established  in  the  United  States  Con- 
stitution? A  member  of  Congress  swears  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  if  he 
sees  a  right  established  by  the  Constitution  which 
needs  specific  legislative  protection,  can  he  clear  his 
oath  without  giving  that  protection  ?  Let  me  ask  you 
why  many  of  us  who  are  opposed  to  slavery  upon 
principle,  give  our  acquiescence  to  a  Fugitive  Slave 
law?  Why  do  we  hold  ourselves  under  obligation 
to  pass  such  a  law,  and  abide  by  it  when  it  is  passed  ? 
Because  the  Constitution  makes  provision  that  the 
owners  of  slaves  shall  have  the  right  to  reclaim  them. 
It  gives  the  right  to  reclaim  slaves,  and  that  right 
is,  as  Judge  Douglas  says,  a  barren  right,  unless 
there  is  legislation  that  will  enforce  it. 

"The  mere  declaration,  'No  person  held  to  service 
or  labor  in  one  State  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping 
into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law  or 
regulation  therein  be  discharged  from  such  service 
or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due,'  is 
powerless  without  specific  legislation  to  enforce  it. 
Now,  on  what  ground  would  a  member  of  Congress 
who  is  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract,  vote  for 


232  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  Fugitive  law,  as  I  would  deem  it  my  duty  to  do? 
And  although  it  is  distasteful  to  me,  I  have  sworn  to 
support  the  Constitution,  and  having  so  sworn,  I 
cannot  conceive  that  I  do  support  it  if  I  withhold 
from  that  right  any  necessary  legislation  to  make  it 
practical.  And  if  that  is  true  in  regard  to  a  fugitive 
Slave  law,  is  the  right  to  have  fugitive  slaves  re- 
claimed any  better  fixed  in  the  Constitution  than 
the  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territories  ?  For  this 
decision  is  a  just  exposition  of  the  Constitution,  as 
Judge  Douglas  thinks.  Is  the  one  right  any  better 
than  the  other  ?  Is  there  any  man  who,  while  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  would  give  support  to  the  one  any 
more  than  the  other?  If  I  wished  to  refuse  to  give 
legislative  support  to  slave  property  in  the  Territo- 
ries, if  a  member  of  Congress,  I  could  not  do  it, 
holding  the  view  that  the  Constitution  establishes 
that  right.  If  I  did  it  at  all,  it  would  be  because  I 
deny  that  this  decision  properly  construes  the  Con- 
stitution. But  if  I  acknowledge,  with  Judge  Doug- 
las, that  this  decision  properly  construes  the  Con- 
stitution, I  cannot  conceive  that  I  would  be  less  than 
a  perjured  man  if  I  should  refuse  in  Congress  to  give 
such  protection  to  that  property  as  in  its  nature 
it  needed." 

The  rejoinder  of  Mr.  Douglas  to  this  part  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  is  as  follows :  "Now  analyze 
that  answer  (to  the  second  and  third  questions  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  by  Mr.   Douglas  at  Ottawa).    In  the 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  233 

first  place  he  says  he  would  be  exceedingly  sorry  to 
be  put  in  a  position  where  he  would  have  to  vote  on 
the  question  of  the  admission  of  a  slave  State.  Why 
is  he  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  if  he  would  be  sorry 
to  be  put  in  that  position?  I  trust  the  people  of 
Illinois  will  not  put  him  in  a  position  which  he  would 
be  sorry  to  occupy.  The  next  position  he  takes  is 
that  he  would  be  glad  to  know  that  there  would  never 
be  another  slave  State,  yet,  in  certain  contingencies, 
he  might  have  to  vote  for  one.  What  is  that  con- 
tingency? If  Congress  keeps  slavery  out  by  law 
while  it  is  a  Territory,  and  then  the  people  should 
have  a  fair  chance  and  should  adopt  slavery,  unin- 
fluenced by  the  presence  of  the  institution,'  he  sup- 
posed he  would  have  to  admit  the  State.  Suppose 
Congress  should  not  keep  slavery  out  during  their 
territorial  existence,  then  how  would  he  vote  when 
the  people  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union 
with  a  slave  Constitution?  That  he  does  not  answer 
and  that  is  the  condition  of  every  territory  we  have 
now.  Slavery  is  not  kept  out  of  Kansas  by  an 
act  of  Congress,  and  when  I  put  the  question  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  whether  he  will  vote  for  the  admission  with 
or  without  slavery,  as  her  people  may  desire,  he  will 
not  answer,  and  you  have  not  got  an  answer  from 
him.  In  Nebraska  slavery  is  not  prohibited  by  act 
of  Congress,  but  the  people  are  allowed,  under  the 
Nebraska  bill,  to  do  as  they  please  on  the  subject; 
and  when  I  ask  him  whether  he  will  vote  to  admit 


234  Abraham  Lincoln 

Nebraska  with  a  slave  Constitution  if  her  people  de- 
sire it,  he  will  not  answer.  So  with  New  Mexico, 
Washington  Territory,  Arizona  and  the  four  new 
States  to  be  admitted  from  Texas.  You  cannot  get 
an  answer  from  him  to  these  questions.  His  answer 
only  applies  to  a  given  case,  to  a  condition — things 
which  he  knows  do  not  exist  in  any  one  territory  in 
the  Union.  He  tries  to  give  you  to  understand  that 
he  would  allow  the  people  to  do  as  they  please,  and 
yet  he  dodges  the  question  as  to  every  Territory  in 
the  Union.  I  now  ask  why  cannot  Mr.  Lincoln 
answer  to  each  of  these  territories?  He  has  not 
done  it,  and  he  will  not  do  it.  The  Abolitionists  up 
North  understand  that  this  answer  is  made  with  a 
view  of  not  committing  himself  on  any  one  Terri- 
tory now  in  existence.  It  is  so  understood  there 
and  you  cannot  expect  an  answer  from  him  on  a 
case  that  applies  to  any  one  Territory,  or  applies 
to  the  new  States  which  by  compact  we  are  pledged 
to  admit  out  of  Texas,  when  they  have  the  required 
population  and  desire  admission.  I  submit  to  you 
whether  he  has  made  a  frank  answer,  so  that  you  can 
tell  how  he  would  vote  in  any  one  of  these  cases. 
'He  would  be  sorry  to  be  put  in  the  position.'  Why 
would  he  be  sorry  to  be  put  in  this  position  if  his 
duty  required  him  to  give  the  vote?  If  the  people 
of  a  Territory  ought  to  be  permitted  to  come  into 
the  Union  as  a  State,  with  slavery  or  without  it,  as 
they  pleased,  why  not  give  the  vote  admitting  them 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  235 

cheerfully  ?  If  in  his  opinion  they  ought  not  to  come 
in  with  slavery,  even  if  they  wanted  to,  why  not  say 
that  he  would  cheerfully  vote  against  their  admis- 
sion? His  intimation  is  that  conscience  would  not 
let  him  vote  'No,'  and  he  would  be  sorry  to  do  that 
which  his  conscience  would  compel  him  to  do  as  an 
honest  man." 

It  will  be  seen  by  anyone  who  follows  the  debate 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  that  the  whole  mat- 
ter beween  these  two  disputants  hinged  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery  as  to  cause  .  There  was  nothing  else 
to  be  settled,  and  that  was  the  great  bone  of  con- 
tention between  the  North  and  the  South.  Every- 
thing depended  on  that  in  the  attempt  to  break  up  and 
destroy  the  Union  of  the  States  which  brought  on 
the  Civil  War. 

Not  wishing  to  prolong  the  subject  of  the  joint 
discussion  to  too  great  a  length,  I  pass  over  the  de- 
bates held  respectfully  at  Charleston  and  Galesburg, 
nor  yet  at  Quincy  except  to  record  the  complaint  of 
Mr.  Douglas  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  give  any 
different  answer  to  his  interrogatories  proposed  at 
Ottawa,  especially  his  third  one,  than  given  at  Free- 
port,  although  he  had  essayed  to  drag  out  of  him 
something  different  at  almost  every  occasion  of  their 
joint  debate.  At  Quincy  Mr.  Douglas  complained 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  reticence.  He  said:  "Now  let  me 
call  your  attention   for  a  moment  to  the  answers 


236  Abraham  Lincoln 

which  Mr.  Lincoln  made  at  Freeport  to  the  questions 
which  I  propounded  him  at  Ottawa. ***The  point  I 
wish  him  to  answer  is  this :  Supose  Congress  should 
not  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territory,  and  it  applied 
for  admission  with  a  Constitution  recognizing  slav- 
ery, then  how  would  he  vote?***  I  have  put  that 
question  to  him  time  and  time  again,  and  have  not 
been  able  to  get  an  answer  out  of  him."  Mr. Douglas 
was  still  unable  to  get  anything  out  of  him  which 
he  could  twist  to  his  own  advantage  and  bring  the 
former  into  antagonism  with  his  party.  Let  it  be 
stated  here  why  he  would  not  answer  differently. Mr. 
Lincoln  had  a  moral  sentiment  against  slavery  as  a 
wrong,  and  he  would  not  do  violence  to  that  senti- 
ment. Accordingly,  we  find  him  discoursing  upon 
that  subject  at  Alton  which  ended  their  controversy . 

"I  have  stated  upon  former  occasions,  and  I 
may  as  well  state  again,  what  I  understand  to  be  the 
real  issue  in  this  controversy  between  Judge  Douglas 
and  myself.  On  the  point  of  my  wanting  to  make 
war  between  the  Free  and  the  Slave  States,  there  has 
been  no  issue  betwen  us.  So,  too,  when  he  assumes 
that  I  am  in  favor  of  introducing  a  perfect  social  and 
political  equality  between  the  white  and  black  races. 
These  are  false  issues,  upon  which  Judge  Douglas 
has  tried  to  force  the  controversy.  There  is  no 
foundation  in  truth  for  the  charge  that  I  maintain 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  237 

either  of  these  propositions.*  The  real  issue  in 
this  controversy — the  one  pressing  upon  every  mind 
— is  the  sentiment  on  the  part  of  one  class  that  looks 
upon  the  institution  of  slavery  as  a  wrong,  and  an- 
other class  that  does  not  look  upon  it  as  a  wrong. 
The  sentiment  that  contemplates  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  this  country  as  a  wrong  is  the  sentiment  of 
the  Republican  party.  It  is  the  sentiment  around 
which  all  their  actions,  all  their  arguments,  circle, 
from  which  all  their  propositions  radiate.  They 
look  upon  it  as  being  a  moral,  social,  and  political 
wrong;  and  while  they  contemplate  it  as  such,  they 
nevertheless  have  due  regard  for  its  actual  existence 
among  us,  and  the  difficulties  of  getting  rid  of  it  in 
any  satisfactory  way  and  to  all  the  constitutional  ob- 
ligations thrown  about  it.     Yet,  having  a  due  regard 

*  It  was  at  Charleston  that  Lincoln  shut  up  the  mouth  of  Judge 
Douglass  on  these  issues  in  the  following  manner :  "I  will  say  then, 
that  I  am  not,  nor  ever  have  been,  in  favor  of  bringing  about  in 
any  way  the  social  and  political  equality  of  the  white  and  black 
races,  that  I  am  not,  nor  ever  have  been  in  favor  of  making  voters 
or  jurors  of  negroes,  nor  of  qualifying  tthem,  to  hold  office, 
not  to  intermarry  with  white  people,  and  I  will  say,  in  addition  to 
this,  that  there  is  a  physical  difference  between  the  white  and 
black  races  which  I  believe  will  forever  forbid  the  two  races  living 
together  on  terms  of  social  and  political  equality.  I  do  not  under- 
stand that  bcause  I  do  not  want  a  negro  woman  'for  a  slave,  I  must 
necessarily   want  her  for  a   wife. 

I  append  here  to  this  plain  statement  of  Abraham  Lincoln  a 
remark  which  I  find  in  Mr.  Frank  E.  Stevens'  Life  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  which  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Illinois  has  published, 
and  which  its  Librarian  and  Secretary  has  generously  sent  me, 
Mrs.    Jessie    Palmer    Weber. 

Here!  is  the  statement  !to  be  found  on  Pages  579  and  580,  em- 
bracing also  what  Mr.  Douglas  said  in  regard  to  it :  Without  any 
doubt  Lincoln  "Shut  up  Douglas."  Why?  Because  he  had 
answered  in  just  that  manner.  Douglas  said  himself  that  nothing 
was  left  upon  that  paint  cf  debate,  I  am  glad  that  I  have  at  last 
succeeded  in  getting  an  answer  out  of  him  upon  this  question  of 
negro  citizenship  and  eligibility  to  office,  for  I  have  been  trying  to 
bring  him  to  the   point  on  it  ever  since  the  canvass  commenced." 


238  Abraham  Lincoln 

for  these,  they  desire  a  policy  in  regard  to  it  that 
looks  to  its  not  creating  any  more  danger.  They  in- 
sist that  it  should,  as  far  as  may  be,  be  treated  as  a 
wrong;  and  one  of  the  methods  of  treating  it  as  a 
wrong  is  to  make  provisions  that  it  shall  grow  no 
larger.  They  also  desire  a  policy  that  looks  to  a  peace- 
ful end  of  slavery  at  the  same  time,  as  being  wrong. 
These  are  the  views  they  entertain  in  regard  to  it  as  T 
understand  them;  and  all  their  sentiments,  all  their 
arguments  and  propositions  are  brought  within  this 
range.*** 

On  this  subject  as  treating  it  as  a  wrong,  and 
limiting  its  spread,  let  me  say  a  word.  Has  anything 
ever  threatened  the  existence  of  this  Union  save  and 
except  this  very  institution  of  slavery?  What  is  it 
that  we  hold  most  dear  amongst  us  ?  Our  own  lib- 
erty and  prosperity.  What  has  ever  threatened  our 
liberty  and  prosperity,  save  and  except  this  institu- 
tion of  slavery?  If  this  be  true,  how  do  you  pro- 
pose to  improve  the  condition  of  things  by  enlarg- 
ing slavery — by  spreading  it  out  and  making  it  big- 
ger? You  may  have  a  wen  or  cancer  upon  your 
person,  and  not  be  able  to  cut  it  out,  lest  you  bleed 
to  death ;  but  surely  it  is  no  way  to  cure  it,  to  engraft 
it  and  spread  it  over  your  whole  body.  That  is  no 
proper  way  of  treating  what  you  regard  as  a  wrong 
You  see  this  peaceful  way  of  dealing  with  it  as  a 
wrong — resisting  the  spread  of  it,  and  not  allowing 
it  to  go  into  new  countries  where  it  has  not  already 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  239 

existed.  That  is  the  peaceful  way,  the  old  fashioned 
way  in  which  the  fathers  themselves  set  us  the  exam- 
ple.* 

"On  the  other  hand,  I  have  said  there  is  a  sen- 
timent which  treats  it  as  not  being  wrong.  That  is 
the  Democratic  sentiment  of  this  day.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  every  man  who  stands  within  that  range 
positively  asserts  that  it  is  right.  That  class  will  in- 
clude all  who  positively  assert  that  it  is  right,  and  all 
who,  like  Judge  Douglas,  treat  it  as  indifferent  and 
do  not  say  it  is  either  right  or  wrong.  These  two 
classes  of  men  fall  within  the  general  class  of  those 
who  do  not  look  upon  it  as  a  wrong.*** 

The  Democratic  policy  in  regard  to  that  institu- 
tion will  not  tolerate  merest  breath,  the  slightest  hint, 
of  the  least  degree  of  wrong  about  it.  Try  it  by 
some  of  Judge  Douglas's  arguments.  He  says  he 
"don't  care  whether  it  is  voted  up  or  voted  down  in 
the  Territories."  I  do  not  care  myself,  in  dealing 
with  that  expression,  whether  it  is  intended  to  be  ex- 
pressive of  his  individual  sentiments  on  the  subject, 
or  only  of  the  national  policy  he  desires  to  have 
established.   It  is  alike  valuable  for  my  purpose.  Any 

*  I    give  in    this  foot    note    what    Mr.    Lincoln   himself   gave   in   the 

fore  part  of  this  Alton  speech  as  thel  "father's  way"  which  is  the 
"old  fashioned  way,"  and  it  is  this:  "I  entertain  the  opinion,  upon 
evidence  sufficiejrit  to  my  mind,  that  the  fathers  of  this  government 
placed  that  institution  where  the  public  mind  did  rest  in  the  be- 
lief that  it  was  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction.  Let  me  ask  why 
they  made  provision  that  the  source  of  slavery-the  African  slave, 
trade — should  be  cut  off  at  the  end  of  twenty  years?  Why  did 
the  make  provisions  that  in  all  the  new  territory  we  owned  at  that 
time  slavery  should  be  forever  inhibited?  Why  stop  its  spread  in 
one  direction,  and  cut  off  its  source  in  another,  if  they  did  not 
look  to   its*  being  placed   in   the   course  of   ultimate   extinction?" 


240  Abraham  Lincoln 

man  can  say  that  he  does  not  see  anything  wrong  in 
slavery ;  hut  no  man  can  logically  say  who  does  see  a 
wrong  in  it,  because  no  man  can  logically  say  he  don't 
care  whether  an  indifferent  thing  is  voted  up  or  voted 
down,  but  he  must  logically  have  a  choice  between  a 
right  and  a  wrong  thing.  He  contends  that  what- 
ever community  wants  slaves  has  a  right  to  have 
them.  So  they  have,  if  it  is  not  wrong.  But  if  it 
is  a  wrong,  he  cannot  say  people  have  a  right  to  do 
wrong.  He  says  that  upon  the  score  of  equality, 
slaves  should  be  allowed  to  go  into  a  new  Territory, 
like  other  property.  If  it  and  other  property  are 
equal,  his  argument  is  entirely  logical.  But  if  you 
insist  that  one  is  wrong  and  the  other  right,  there 
is  no  use  to  institute  a  comparison  between  right 
and  wrong.  You  may  turn  over  everything  in  the 
Democratic  policy  from  beginning  to  end,  whether 
in  the  shape  it  takes  on  the  statute  book,  in  the  shape 
it  takes  in  conversation,  or  the  shape  it  takes  in 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  in  the  shape  it  takes  in  short 
maxim-like  arguments! — it  everywhere  carefully  ex- 
cludes the  idea  that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  it. 

"That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that 
will  continue  in  this  country  when  these  poor  tongues 
of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent.  It  is  the 
eternal  struggle  between  these  two  principles — right 
and  wrong  — throughout  the  world.  They  are  the 
two  principles  that  have  stood  face  to  face  from  the 
beginning  of  time.***  The  one  is  the  common  right 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  241 

of  humanity,  and  the  other  the  divine  right  of  kings. 
It  is  the  same  spirit  that  says,"You  work  and  toil  and 
earn  bread,  and  I'll  eat  it."  No  matter  in  what  shape 
it  comes,  whether  from  the  mouth  of  a  king  who 
seeks  to  bestride  the  people  of  his  own  nation  and 
live  by  the  fruit  of  their  labor,  or  from  one  race  of 
men  as  an  apology  for  enslaving  another  race,  it  is 
the  same  tyrannical  principle." 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  statements  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  that,  had  he  lived  in  this  twentieth  cen- 
tury age  and  in  view  of  what  took  place  in  the  gi- 
gantic struggle  of  the  world- war,  and  if  the  world  of 
mankind  among  us  had  partaken  of  his  sentiments, 
there  would  not  have  been  a  "slacker"  to  be  seen  by 
him. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  bearing  upon  the 
joint  discussion  between  these  two  champions,  it 
seems  fitting  to  restate  what  was  said  in  a  former 
part  of  this  work — the  distinctive  difference  between 
them  resulting  from  their  respective  view  points. 
Douglas  stood  for  the  law  as  it  read,  while  Lincoln 
stood  for  the  law  as  it  should  read.  Both  men 
were  loyal  and  patriotic  as  their  later  history  prov- 
ed, and  this  is  evident,  too,  to  every  one  who  has 
read  the  entire  debate.  Douglas  firmly  endorsed 
the  Dred  Scott  decision  because  it  was  the  law  of 
the  land;  Lincoln  did  not,  and  declared  his  belief 
that  the  decision  was  improperly  made,  and  he  went 
for  revising  it  on  the  ground  of  its  immoral  bearing 


242  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  its  triumph  of  wrong  over  right.  Throughout 
the  entire  discussion  Douglas  did  not  betray  the  least 
sympton  that  he  thought  there  was  anything  wrong 
in  the  institution  of  slavery,  or  that  he  had  any  con- 
scientious scruples  of  this  kind.  Nevertheless,  he 
was  not  insensible  to  the  sentiment  when  all  the  facts 
of  hiis  life  are  known,  and  in  another  chapter  the 
writer  will  be  pleased  to  gather  up  some  of  the  evi- 
dences of  this  sort  and  present  them.  His  indom- 
itable ambition  to  be  president  of  the  United  States 
seemed  to  still  his  moral  sentiment  against  its  wrong 
if  only  he  might  gain  enough  Southern  prestige  to 
be  able  to  become  such.  Lincoln  either  knew  this  or 
suspected  it,  for  in  a  few  lines  above  this  in  the 
part  of  the  Alton  speech  which  we  have  transcribed 
he  alludes  to  this  apparent  indifference,  putting  him 
in  the  class  of  Democrats  who  did  not  care  for  such 
a  thing,  or  for  this  moral  sentiment.  Mr.  Lincoln 
here  attacks  the  position  of  Mr.  Douglas  in  the  argu- 
ments of  the  latter  to  uphold  the  cause  of  slavery 
against  the  deep  sense  and  moral  convictions  of  its 
wrong  which  such  a  man  as  he  must  be  considered 
to  have,  by  his  endeavors  to  uphold  such  an  institu- 
tion on  the  basis  of  its  national  issue,  and  he  beat  him 
into  the  high  position  of  the  Presidency,  which  they 
both  coveted. 

One  or  two  points  more  and  I  shall  be  through 
with  anything  I  may  have  to  say  in  a  direct  manner 
on  the  subject  of  the  joint  debate.     Mr.  Douglas  in 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  243 

his  political  course  through  life  defeated  his  own 
high  ideas  and  ambition  by  doing  violence  to  his  own 
inner  conscience.  He  might  have  been  President 
had  his  course  been  different.  Mr.  Lincoln  clung  to 
the  higher  and  better  course,  and  reached  his  goal. 
Yet  one  thing  seems  certain  in  the  opinion  of  the  writ- 
er :  If  there  had  not  been  a  Douglas  there  would  not 
have  been  a  Lincoln.  This  was  the  opinion  of  the  writ- 
er during  the  time  when  he  was  a  young  man  on  the 
farm,  as  he  read  the  discussion  as  it  was  being  con- 
ducted through  its  entire  course,  and  as  he  heard  it 
talked  about  by  others.  Since  commencing  to  write 
this  treatise  he  has  waded  through  the  entire  pro- 
cess of  that  long  debate,  and  having  done  so,  he  has 
not  seen  fit  to  change  his  mind.  While  he  main- 
tained himself  throughout  the  discussion,  and  won 
the  meed  of  victory  as  to  the  Senatorship,  he  lost 
something  to  his  competitor,  and  ended  up  his  life 
in  disappointment  to  his  ambition.  Virtue  has  its 
reward.  He  might  have  been  President,  but  he  paid 
the  penalty  for  violence  to  his  real  sentiment,  and  we 
may  shed  a  tear  for  this  disappointment  to  his  high 
hopes.     He  was  a  worthy  man. 


CHAPTER  X 

Early  Days  in  Illinois 

The  Real  Douglas 

HOEVER  has  read  the  discussions  between 
these  two  representative  men  of  Illinois, 
Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  without 
knowing  very  much  of  the  history  of  the  former, 
will,  doubtless,  be  led  to  form  an  erroneous  opinion 
of  his  real  character.  He  had  been  so  long  before 
the  people  of  Illinois  as  a  representative  man  in 
public  office,  he  had  been  petted  and  fondled  by  them 
so  long  that  he  appeared  somewhat  spoiled,  and  he 
seemed  to  assume  a  sort  of  patronizing  air  toward 
any  one  who  pressed  to  oppose  him  in  anything  he 
had  to  say  or  do.  He  had  become  opinionated  by 
virtue  by  being  kept  in  office  so  long  that  this  feature 
of  character  became  a  sort  of  second  nature,  as  it 
were,  and  to  that  extent  that  it  was  very  noticeable 
and  rendered  him  somewhat  disagreeable  and  rather 
tiresome  to  many.  He  had  been  kept  before  the 
people  so  many  years  that  his  ambition  became  so 
great  he  appeared  to  think,  but  not  in  reality,  no 
one  else  had  any  right  to  the  high  station  he  oc- 

244 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  245 

cupied  as  United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of 
Illinois  until  he  could  step  into  the  higher  office  of 
the  Presidency. 

I  record  here  the  words  of  Mr.  Horace  White 
who  accompanied  Mr.  Lincoln  to  every  point  at 
which  the  two  men  spoke  during  the  joint  debate,  and 
who  is  good  authority  in  a  matter  of  this  kind:  "I 
have  been  asked  what  was  the  demeanor  of  the  two 
men  toward  each  other  during  these  debates.  Their 
demeanor  on  the  platform  was  that  of  cool  polite- 
ness. There  was  nothing  like  comradeship  between 
them.  Mr.  Douglas  began  the  campaign  by  as- 
suming an  air  of  superiority  and  patronage  and  tol- 
eration towards  Lincoln,  which  he  did  not  really 
feel.  It  was  a  part  of  his  political  game  to  make 
the  most  of  his  own  greater  prestige.  If  he  had  met 
Lincoln  everywhere  on  terms  of  his  usual  geniality 
and  good  fellowship  the  Democrats  would  have  been 
obliged  to  confess  that  the  two  champions  were  on 
equal  footing,  whereas  they  had  always  believed  and 
insisted  that  Douglas  was  much  the  greater  of  the 
two.  Of  course  Lincoln  would  not  tolerate  any 
claims  of  superiority.  His  demeanor  on  the  plat- 
form was  framed  to  repel  and  rebuke  such  airs.  Off 
the  platform  they  did  not  meet  at  all  during  the  cam- 
paign."*** I  add  here  a  word  from  Mr.  Stevens: 
"Lincoln  was  human.  The  sweetness  of  his  human 
foibles  must  stand  as  a  constant  reminder  of  what  a 
human  being  in  a  human  way  can  do  for  lasting 


246  Abraham  Lincoln 

blessings  to  fellow  men  and  glory  to  himself.  To 
carry  him  skyward  is  to  lose  him  altogether. Though 
at  times  he  displayed  a  high  degree  of  nervousness 
and  anger,  his  gentleness  came  invariably  to  the  res 
cue  and  nobody  appreciated  his  human  virtues  more 
than  his  great  rival,  Douglas,  a  man  of  many  virtues 
which  have  been  hidden  by  the  overpowering  shad- 
ows of  that  other  who  for  so  long  a  time  watched 
and  envied  the  great  distance  which  separated  them. 
What  a  sommersault  fickle  fortune  turned  with  re- 
spect to  those  great  rivals  !"* 

After  what  has  been  said  in  a  few  sentences  by 
the  writer  in  the  commencement  of  this  chapter  re- 
lative to  Mr.  Douglas,  he  cannot  refrain  from  intro- 
ducing here  a  just  and  very  worthy  remark  of  Mr. 
Stevens  in  his  Life  of  Mr.  Douglas,  which  work  lies 
before  him  as  he  writes:  "Of  all  the  political  rival- 
ries of  American  history,  not  one  is  entitled  to  stand 
in  the  class  of  Douglas  and  Lincoln.  Hamilton 
and  Jefferson  could  never  be  brought  together  or  in- 
to terms  of  more  than  civility,  so  tightly  drawn 
were  their  relations.  Clay  and  Calhoun  hated  each 
other  cordially;  it  was  war  to  the  death  between. 
Nothing  but  the  inflexible  and  powerful  will 
of  Jackson  could  have  coped  successfully  against 
the  hatred  and  superior  genius  of  Calhoun.  But 
between  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  there  was  present  an 

*  Quoted     from     Mr.     Frank     E.     Stevens'     Life     of     Stephen     A. 

Douglas    and    published    by    the    Illinois    State    Historical    Society,    Page 
589  and   590. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  247 

attachment ;  a  warm,  lasting  friendship.  Upon  the 
jtump  from  1840  to  1858,  in  joint  debate,  each 
would  pay  his  political  respects  to  the  other  in  no  un- 
certain manner,  but  the  debate  over,  the  friendship 
remained  undisturbed.  In  the  contest  of  the  latter 
years,  personalities  might  have  become  more  than 
usually  noticeable  with  his  three  cornered  fight  on 
hand,  because  Douglas'  stock  of  patience  was  ex- 
hausted. But  there  abided  always,  his  great  respect 
for  his  powerful  adversary." 

As  a  friendly  and  courteous  act  of  Mr.  Douglas 
towards  his  rival,  Mr.  Stevens  cites  an  instance 
which  is  well  known  to  many  persons  familiar  with 
these  two  gentlemen  :"When  upon  sending  his  son 
Robert  to  Harvard,  Lincoln  desired  for  his  son  at- 
tentions which  might  not  come  to  the  average  young 
western  man,  how  did  Lincoln  secure  that  coveted  at- 
tention? By  securing  from  his  old  friend,  Senator 
Douglas,  a  letter  to  the  President  of  Harvard,  Dr. 
Walker,  and  therein  he  speaks  of  the  young  man  as 
a  son  of  his  friend  Abraham  Lincoln,  'with  whom  I 
have  lately  been  canvassing  the  State  of  Illinois.' 

The  writer  well  remembers  that  incident  for 
there  was  more  to  it  than  expressed  in  that  citation. 
He  himself  was  also  a  student  in  a  sister  State  of 
New  England  preparing  to  enter  college.  We  were 
both  from  this  same  town,  Springfield.  Right  well 
were  these  two  champions  familiar  with  each  other's 
ability  as  contestants.     This  knowledge  came  from 


248  Abraham  Lincoln 

away  back  in  their  history  when  they  were  young  men 
at  Springfield,  in  their  literary  and  political  strife 
with  each  other.  And  when  at  Washington  Mr. 
Douglas  learned  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  chosen 
as  the  Republican  candidate  for  the  United  States 
senatorship  in  his  stead,  he  said  to  others  of  his 
friends  that  a  very  able  and  very  honest  man  had 
been  nominated.  He  said  on  another  occasion  to 
Mr.  John  W.  Farney,  amplifying  the  above  state- 
ment :  "I  shall  have  my  hands  full.  He  is  the 
strong  man  of  his  party — full  of  rich  facts,  dates, 
and  is  the  best  stump  speaker  in  the  west.  He  is  as 
honest  as  he  is  shrewd;  and  if  I  beat  him,  my  vic- 
tory will  be  hardly  won."*  These  with  others  are 
facts  which  we  who  lived  with  Lincoln  in  Sangamon 
County  were  familiar  with,  and  which  Judge  Doug- 
las had  come  up  against  and  realized  only  too  often 
to  forget  them.  I  give  in  this  place  a  few  more 
facts  from  this  same  source  which  the  author  of  that 
work  has  culled  out  from  the  great  mass  which  are 
extant : 

"When  that  celebrated  canvass  was  finished 
and  Douglas,  a  victor  over  Buchanan  as  well  as  over 
Lincoln,  he  told  Henry  Wilson,  in  reply  to  the  ques- 
tion as  to  what  he  thought  of  Mr.  Lincoln  :'He  is  an 
able  and  honest  man,  one  of  the  noblest  men  of  the 
nation.  I  have  been  in  Congress  sixteen  years,  and 
there  is  not  a  man  in  the  Senate  I  would  not  rather 
encounter    in   debate'."     Again,    "When   later,   in   a 

**  Stevens'    Life   of    Douglas. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  249 

spirit  of  ugliness,  it  was  proposed  to  offend  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  his  new  office,  Douglas  said  with  spirit : 
I  shall  be  there  and  if  anyone  attacks  Mr. 
Lincoln  he  attacks  me  too'."  More  than  this,  it 
has  been  said  of  Mr.  Douglas  and  it  is  recorded  in 
reference  to  his  treatment  of  secession  sympathizers, 
he  made  this  statement:  "If  I  were  President,  I'd 
convert  or  hang  them  all  within  forty-eight  hours. 
However,  don't  be  in  any  hurry.  I've  known  Mr. 
Lincoln  a  longer  time  than  you  have,  or  than  the 
country;  he'll  come  out  all  right  and  we  will  all 
stand  by  him."  Lastly,  "When  at  the  inauguration 
ball  it  had  been  intimated  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  to  be 
snubbed  by  Washington  society  absenting  itself, 
Douglas  a  social  favorite,  let  it  be  known  at  once  that 
the  Douglases  would  undertake  to  spoil  the  little 
plot  and  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability  he  did,  by  es- 
corting Mrs.  Lincoln  to  the  ball  room  upon  his  arm." 
But  it  was  in  the  social  features  of  his  qualities 
and  in  the  home  that  Douglas  excelled.  He  loved 
his  home  and  home  life  in  the  family,  and  he  tried 
to  have  at  least  one  cheerful,  happy  spot  exempt  from 
all  anxiety  for  himself  and  all  the  inmates  of  his 
home  and  for  whoever  else  it  might  be  by  whom  he 
was  surrounded.  It  is  said  of  Mr.  Douglas  that  he 
loved  to  have  company  in  his  home — his  immediate 
friends  and  other  invited  guests.  I  record  here 
what  another  has  written:*     "The  married  life  of 

*  Mr.    Stevens    5n    his    Life    of    Stephen    A.    Douglas,    Page    683    as 

published  in  Journal   of  the   Illinois   State   Historical   Society. 


250  Abraham  Lincoln 

Douglas  was  ideal.  As  the  son  Stephen  has  repeat- 
ed many  times  about  his  mother,  'she  was  the  love  of 
my  father's  life'.  The  love  of  Douglas  for  his  wife 
was  an  infatuation  and  if  a  change  was  ever  notice- 
able in  his  devotion,  it  was  that  he  was  more  de- 
voted than  upon  the  day  before.  No  father  loved 
a  romp  with  the  boys  more  than  Douglas ;  upon  hands 
and  knees  he  would  permit  them  to  take  his  heavy 
locks  of  hair  in  hand  and  lead  him  about  the  room 
playing  horse.  He  was  ever  a  chum,  a  boy  chum 
with  them  and  no  more  beautiful  tribute  can  be  of- 
fered than  that  of  the  son  Stephen  but  a  few  days 
before  his  death :  "I  knew  both  of  the  men,  to  honor 
whom  you  gather  here  today.  I  knew  the  one  as  a 
boy  may  know  his  farther — his  friend,  his  playmate 
and  his  chum,  whom  he  loved  and  respected,  but  had 
never  learned  to  fear.'  '  And  in  a  footnote  on  this 
same  page  I  find  the  following  from  this  same  son 
Stephen  mentioning  "the  fondness  of  the  father, 
when  dancing  the  son  upon  one  knee,  far  away" 
"They  tried  to  make  a  cabinet  maker  of  me,  but  I 
was  a  failure  and  so  they  made  a  Senator  of  me." 

Mr.  Douglas  was  twice  married  and  happily 
mated  each  time.  His  first  wife  was  Miss  Martha 
Denny  Martin,  the  daughter  of  one  Colonel  Martin 
who  was  a  resident  of  North  Carolina.  Of  the  issue 
of  that  marriage  there  were  two  sons*  and  one 
daughter.     The  latter  did  not  survive  her  mother's 

*  It    appeirs    that    these    two    sons    were    horn    at    the    old    Martin 

homestead  in  North  Carolina,  and  that  the  daughter  was  horn  in 
Washington. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  251 

death  but  a  month  or  two,  dying  in  infancy.  The 
older  son's  name  was  Robert  Martin  Douglas,  born 
January  28,  1849,  and  the  name  of  the  younger  son 
was  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas,  the  same  as  that  of 
his  father,  born  November  3,  1850.  The  mother  of 
these  children  died  in  Washington,  January  23, 
1853.  Douglas  lived  in  a  cottage  which  he  built  in 
Chicago  in  1853  until  1856.  After  this  period  he 
lived  in  Washington,  and  later  in  life  he  built  a 
four  story  residence  of  some  pretensions  where  he 
lived,  becoming  a  ''princely  entertainer"  and  where  he 
reached  his  highest  fame  after  his  second  marriage. 
For  his  second  wife  he  married  Miss  Adele  Cutts, 
"the  beautiful  and  accomplished  daughter  of  J.  Mad- 
ison Cutts,  then  second  comptroller  of  the  treasury. 
His  new  house  became  the  rendezvous  for  committee 
meetings,  and  friends  who  desired  to  make  plans." 
Here  is  what  I  find  in  a  foot  note  on  page  648  of 
Mr.  Stevens  Life  of  Douglas:  "And  the  beauty  and 
cleverness  of  Mrs.  Senator  Douglas  caused  her  par- 
lors to  be  thronged  by  those  whose  loyalty  was  out- 
spoken or  whose  disloyalty  was  not  yet  avowed. The 
'Little  Giant',  too,  as  a  host  was  most  charming." 

The  next  feature  characteristic  of  Mr.  Douglas 
to  which  we  wish  to  call  attention  is  the  much  moot- 
ed question  of  his  pro-slavery  tendencies  which  he 
might  have  had  or  might  not  have  had.  Through- 
out his  public  utterances  in  his  stump  speeches  or 
anywhere  else,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  he  did 


252  Abraham  Lincoln 

not  commit  himself  publicly  on  the  subject  of  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  as  to  what  he  thought  of  it  in 
the  aspect  of  its  righteousness  or  unrighteousness. 
And  because  of  this,  he  has  been  interpreted  as  hav- 
ing no  qualms  of  conscience  or  distressing  thought 
about  it  on  the  moral  basis.  During  the  debates 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  latter  twits  him  for  this  in 
the  oft  repeated  use  he  makes  in  his  citation  of  the 
statement  that  he  did  not  care  how  the  question  of 
slavery  went,  whether  it  was  "voted  up  or  down." 
In  this,  Mr  Douglas  has  sometimes  been  misjudged. 
He  had  conscientious  scruples,  nevertheless,  about 
the  subject  of  slavery.  He  made  the  statement 
rather  loosely  in  the  heated  discussion  which  took 
place  in  the  Senate,  perhaps,  in  the  course  of  his  ar- 
gument not  intending  to  give  any  expresion  as  to  its 
moral  right  which  he  might  have  or  might  not  have 
or  his  conscientious  scruples  about  it. 

That  expression  of  Mr.  Douglas  has  a  history. 
How  did  he  come  to  make  it  ?  lit  occurs  in  a  speech 
which  he  made  in  the  United  States  Senate  at  the 
time  of  his  opposition  to  President  Buch- 
anan who  sought  to  force  a  slave  constitution  upon 
the  people  of  Kansas  in  opposition  to  their  wishes 
and  in  violation  of  their  rights,  thus  bringing  her 
into  the  Union  a  slave  State.  I  give  here  the  words 
of  his  speech  leading  up  to  the  expression :  "Let  me 
ask  you,  why  force  this  Constitution  down  the 
throats  of  the  people  of  Kansas  in  opposition  to 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  253 

their  wishes  and  in  violation  of  our  pledges?  *  *  * 
[There  was  great  fear  of  dividing  the  Democratic 
party  if  they  did].  Do  we  propose  to  keep  the  party 
united  by  offering  division?  *  *  *  But  I  am  be- 
sought to  wait  until  I  hear  from  the  election  on  the 
21st  of  December.  I  am  told  that  will  put  it  all 
right  and  will  save  the  whole  difficulty.  How  can 
it?  *  *  *  But  I  deny  that  it  is  impossible  to  have 
a  fair  vote  on  the  slavery  clause ;  and  I  say  that  it 
is  not  impossible  to  have  any  vote  on  the  constitu- 
tion. Why  wait  for  the  mockery  of  an  election, 
when  it  is  provided  unalterably,  that  the  people  can- 
not vote — when  the  majority  are  disfranchised? 

"But  I  am  told  on  all  sides,  'Oh,  just  wait !  the 
pro-slavery  clause  will  be  voted  down.'***  If  Kan- 
sas wants  a  slave  State  constitution,  she  has  a  right 
to  it;  if  she  wants  a  free-State  constitution,  she  has 
a  right  to  it.  It  is  none  of  my  business  which  way 
the  slavery  clause  is  decided.  I  care  not  whether  it 
is  voted  down  or  up."***  This  is  the  clause  and 
this  is  its  setting  in  his  speech  in  the  Senate,  upon 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  throughout  the  joint  discussion, 
whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  rang  many  changes. 

It  has  been  stated  in  this  chapter  that  the  first 
wife  of  Senator  Douglas  was  a  Southern  woman, 
the  daughter  of  a  citizen  of  North  Carolina.  He 
was  the  owner  of  lands  and  slaves  in  that  State.  Be- 
sides this  homestead,  he  also  owned  a  plantation  and 
slaves  in  the  State  of  Mississippi.  The  next  day 
after  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Douglas  with  Miss  Mar- 


254  Abraham  Lincoln 

tin,  her  father  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  new  son-in 
law  a  package  of  papers  with  the  information  that 
it  was  a  wedding  gift.  Mr.  Stevens  whose  work  on 
the  Life  of  Mr.  Douglas  gives  us  this  bit  of  infor- 
mation, gives,  also  another  authentic  statement  con- 
cerning the  charge  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  a  slave 
owner, which  will  be  of  interest  to  many  persons. 
This  charge  was  the  occasion  of  a  confab  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate  between  Mr.  Douglas  and  Sen- 
ator Wade  of  Ohio,  the  latter  of  whom  saw  fit  to 
call  attention  to  the  indelicate  matter  of  the  re- 
lations alleged  to  exist  between  Mr.  Douglas  and 
slaves  and  the  income  from  slaves.  Mr.  Stevens 
has  said  of  it  that  "probably  it  would  not  have  been 
made  but  for  the  intense  feeling  then  existing  be- 
tween the  great  political  parties  of  the  country  in  a 
desperate  fight."  I  shall  presently  give  the  short 
and  curt  reply  in  which  Mr.  Douglas  pays  his  re- 
spects to  the  Ohio  Senator. 

"Later,"  says  Mr.  Stevens,  "Douglas  found  the 
package  of  papers  to  contain  among  other  things, 
an  absolute  deed,  conveying  to  him  certain  planta- 
tions in  the  State  of  Mississippi  and  the  slaves  there- 
on, of  the  value  of  something  like  $100,000.  With- 
out reflecting  a  moment  upon  his  course  in  the  prem- 
ises, Douglas  sought  Col.  Martin  and  with  protesta- 
tions of  profound  thanks  for  the  spirit  which  mov- 
ed the  gift,  he  returned  the  deed,  stating  that  while 
he  was  no  abolitionist,  and  had  no  sympathy  with 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  255 

them  in  their  ultra  views  respecting  slavery,  yet  he 
was  a  northern  man  by  birth,  education  and  residence 
and  was  totally  ignorant  of  that  description  of  pro- 
perty, and  as  ignorant  of  the  manner  of  its  govern- 
ment; wherefore,  wholly  incompetent  as  he  was  for 
the  property,  particularly  at  the  great  distance  from 
which  he  lived,  he  preferred  Col.  Martin  should  re- 
tain the  property,  at  least  during  his  lifetime,  and 
if  in  the  meantime  no  disposition  was  made  of  it,  he 
could  then  by  will  leave  directions  for  its  dispo- 
sition."* 

As  things  turned  out  Col.  Martin  died  May  25, 
1848,  leaving  in  his  will  the  following  :"In  giving 
to  my  dear  daughter  full  and  complete  control  over 
my  slaves  in  Mississippi  (his  slaves  in  North  Car- 
olina having  been  left  to  his  wife  in  fee  simple)  I 
make  to  her  one  dying  request  instead  of  endeavor- 
ing to  reach  the  case  in  this  will.  That  is,  that  if 
she  leaves  no  children,  to  make  provisions  before  she 
dies  to  have  all  these  negroes,  together  with  their 
increase,  sent  to  Liberia,  or  some  other  colony  in  Af- 
rica. By  giving  them  the  net  proceeds  of  the  last 
crop  they  may  make  would  fit  them  out  for  the  trip 
and  probably  leave  a  large  surplus  to  aid  them  in 
commencing  planting  in  that  country.  In  this  re- 
quest I  would  remind  my  dear  daughter  that  her 
husband  does  not  desire  to  own  this  kind  of  property 
and  most  of  our  collateral  connection  already  have 

*  Mr.  Stevens  quotes  as  authority  for  this  statement  the  son  of 
Judge    Douglas,   Robert    M.    Douglas. 


258  Abraham  Lincoln 

■belief,  expressed  in  the  will,  that  they  would  be  hap- 
pier and  better  off  with  the  descendants  of  the  fam- 
ily with  whom  they  had  been  born  and  raised, 
than  in  a  distant  land  where  they  might  find  no 
friend  to  care  for  them.  This  brief  statement,  relat- 
ing to  private  and  domestic  affairs  (which  ought  to 
be  permitted  to  remain  private  and  sacred),  has  been 
extorted  and  wrung  from  me  with  extreme  reluct- 
ance, even  in  vindication  of  the  purity  of  my  motives 
in  the  performance  of  a  high  public  trust.  As  the 
truth  compelled  me  to  negative  the  insinuations  so  of- 
fensively made  by  the  Senator  from  Ohio,  God  for- 
bid that  I  should  be  understood  by  anyone  as  willing 
to  cast  from  me  any  responsibility  that  now  does,  or 
ever  has  attached  to  any  member  of  my  family.  So 
long  as  life  shall  last — and  I  shall  cherish  with  re- 
ligious veneration  the  memory  and  virtues  of  the 
sainted  mother  of  my  children — so  long  as  my  heart 
shall  be  filled  with  parental  solicitude  for  the  hap- 
piness of  those  motherless  infants,  I  shall  implore 
my  enemies,  who  so  ruthlessly  invade  the  domestic 
sanctuary,  to  do  me  the  favor  to  believe  that  I  have 
no  wish,  no  aspiration,  to  be  considered  purer  or  bet- 
ter than  she  who  was,  or  they  who  are,  slave-holders. 

Sir,  when  my  assailants  refuse  to  accdpt  a  like 
amount  of  this  species  of  property  tendered  to  them, 
under  similar  circumstances,  and  shall  perform  a 
domestic  trust  with  equal  fidelity  and  disinterested- 
ness, it  will  be  time  enough  for  them  to  impute  mer- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  259 

cenary  motives  to  me  in  the  performance  of  my 
official  duties." 

I  give  one  more  paragraph  concerning  this  plan- 
tation and  the  slaves  upon  it  from  Mr.  Stevens'  work. 
This  is  not  the  end  of  the  matter.  Whoever  cares 
to  pursue  the  matter  to  its  end  may  find  the  whole 
story  written  out  in  full  in  Part  XXIX  from  which 
this  account  is  taken. 

"This  plantation  was  located  on  Pearl  River, 
Lawrence  County,  in  the  State  of  Mississippi.  Some 
years  after  the  death  of  Major  Martin,  the  land,  in 
the  absence  of  enrichment,  and  by  reason  of  frequent 
freshets,  became  so  unproductive  that,  Senator 
Douglas,  the  executor  of  the  will,  made  a  contract 
with  a  gentleman  named  James  A.  McHatton,  who 
owned  a  large  and  fertile  plantation  in  another  Coun- 
ty to  take  the  slaves  and  work  them  for  a  certain 
portion  of  the  profit.  The  Martin  plantation  was 
then  sold  by  order  of  court,  largely  upon  credit.  The 
war  followed  soon  after,  in  which  the  records  were 
destroyed,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  payments 
were  never  recovered.  The  slaves  of  course  were 
emancipated." 

"The  stock  objection  to  the  course  of  Douglas 
with  regard  to  slavery,"  says  Mr.  Stevens'  work  on 
page  648,  "has  been  that  he  would  not  believe  nor  say 
that  slavery  was  wrong  fundamentally.  Douglas  did 
believe  that  slavery  was  wrong  fundamentally.  But 
with  a  constitutional  recognition  of  it  staring  him  in 


260  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  face,  the  plan  of  Douglas  for  its  ultimate  ex- 
tinction was  the  wisest.  The  Kansas  experiment 
proved  that  it  could  be  crowded  out." 

After  all  that  may  be  said,  there  yet  remain 
those  who  are  persuaded  that  he  would  not  make 
such  pronouncement  lest  it  might  be  the  means  of 
keeping  him  out  of  the  Presidential  chair  which  was 
the  object  of  his  great  ambition,  and  for  this  reason 
he  coveted  the  Southern  vote,  as  others  from  the 
North  had  done,  and  had  come  into  it  by  this  means. 
If  this  be  true,  he  paid  the  penalty  by  so  doing,  and 
lost  out.  Far  be  it  from  the  writer  to  regard  Mr. 
Douglas  in  such  light  as  to  do  his  memory  harm ;  but 
he  was  a  politician,  and  was  not  wholly  unlike  many 
other  politicians.  He  coveted  honor  and  high  posi- 
tion, but  possibly  not  more  than  did  Mr.  Lincoln,  his 
champion  competitor.  Both  set  high  their  goal,  and 
struggled  hard  to  reach  it.  Both  were  patriots, 
equally  so.  The  one  reached  his  highest  aim,  the 
other  did  not,  but  had  he  lived  there  is  no  tell- 
ing what  might  have  been. 

But  whatever  hope  Mr.  Douglas  had  once  en- 
tertained of  becoming  President  in  the  term  next  fol- 
lowing that  of  Buchanan,  that  hope  began  to  wane 
before  the  campaign  of  1859  and  1860  set  in.  The 
effort  of  Lincoln  in  Illinois  in  the  senatorial  campaign 
in  1858  during  the  great  debate  between  these  two 
men,  while  Lincoln  was  beaten  for  that  high  office, 
had  done  its  work  towards  heading  off  Mr. Douglas 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  261 

from  reaching  the  object  of  his  high  goal  so  soon. 
We  hear  Mr.  Douglas  admonishing  his  friends  other- 
wise like  this :  'They  know  that,  personally  I  do  not 
desire  the  Presidency  at  this  time — that  I  prefer  a 
seat  in  the  Senate  for  the  next  six  years,  with  the 
chance  of  a  re-election,  to  being  President  for  four 
years,  at  my  age  of  life.  They  know  that  I  will  take 
no  steps  to  obtain  the  Charleston  nomination,  that  I 
will  make  no  sacrifice  of  principle,  no  concealment 
of  opinions,  no  concessions  to  power  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  it.***  In  other  words,  I  prefer  the 
position  of  Senator,  or  even  that  of  private  citizen, 
where  I  would  be  at  liberty  to  defend  and  maintain 
the  well-defined  principles  of  the  Democratic  party, 
to  accepting  a  Presidential  nomination  upon  a  plat- 
form incompatible  with  the  principles  of  self  govern- 
ment in  the  territories,  or  the  reserved  rights  of 
States  or  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  under  the 
Constitution." 

The  fact  is,  Mr.  Douglas  knew  the  composi- 
tion of  the  Southern  mind  better  than  did  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. He  understood  their  temper  well,  and  began 
to  see  the  signs  of  "the  hand  writing  on  the  wall" — 
the  danger  that  beset  the  American  flag  to  maintain 
itself  in  the  disruption  of  the  Union.  In  such  an 
event,  he  would  not  be  a  tool  of  slavery  interests, 
and  many  of  his  "Southern  friends  believed  and 
charged  him  with  being  an  open  enemy  of  the  pe- 
culiar institution."     Under  this  head,  Mr.  Stevens 


262  Abraham  Lincoln 

writes :  "His  tenacity  of  purpose,  his  fearlessness 
of  political  or  other  consequences  had  done  more 
than  the  world  has  been  inclined  to  lay  to  his  credit. 
With  due  respect  to  the  memory  of  Lincoln,  it  is 
not  to  be  said  that  he  would  have  braved  party  cen- 
sure with  any  bolder  declarations  than  those  uttered 
by  Douglas.  The  utterances  of  Douglas  in  1859 
and  1860  were  bolder  than  the  utterances  of  Lincoln 
during  the  campaign  of  1858." 

Nevertheless,  without  heeding  his  admonitions 
and  warnings  of  disaster  to  the  party  which  "the 
fight  was  likely  to  precipitate,"  his  friends  reassemb- 
ling in  Baltimore  went  ahead  and  put  him  in  nomina- 
tion, and  declared  him  to  be  the  candidate,  as  follows  : 
"Resolved,  unanimously,  That  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  having  now  received  two- 
thirds  the  vote  given  in  this  convention,  is  hereby 
declared,  in  accordance  with  the  uniform  customs 
and  rules  of  former  Democratic  National  Conven- 
tions, the  regular  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party 
of  the  United  States." 

The  Southern  delegates  had  withdrawn  from 
the  Convention,  and  he  had  no  support  from  the 
South  except  that  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens.  His 
friends  had  done  everything  they  possibly  could  for 
him.  They  had  gone  to  the  length  even  of  suppress- 
ing the  telegrams  he  had  sent  them  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  convention,  offering,  during  the  wrangle 
between  the  delegates  from  North  and  South  which 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  263 

threatened  the  disruption  of  the  Democratic  party, 
to  sacrifice  everything  to  save  the  party  rather  than 
to  divide  it :  but  they  had  gone  ahead,  nevertheless 
and  nominated  him.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but 
stand  by  his  friends  and  make  the  fight.  That  was 
the  honorable  side  for  him  to  take,  which  he  did,  en- 
tering into  the  field  in  person,  taxing  his  endurance 
to  the  very  limit,  sparing  neither  health  nor  expense 
in  the  long  and  bitterly  contested  struggle.  The 
Southern  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  met  in  an- 
other convention  and  nominated  Breckenridge.  "The 
secret  and  sometimes  expressed  wish  of  the  Brecken- 
ridge party,"  says  Mr.  Stevens  who  has  given  a 
lengthened  account  of  the  trouble  of  this  period, "in- 
dicated that  it  was  the  hope  of  that  party  that  Lin- 
coln might  succeed,  the  better,  no  doubt,  to  present 
an  opening  for  the  already  well  planned  object  of 
secession.  On  the  other  hand,  the  thorough  accord 
of  the  Republicans  left  little  hope  for  carrying  a 
Northern  State  for  Douglas.  In  other  words,  be- 
tween these  two  extremes,  little  was  left  for  the  man 
who  attempted  to  occupy  neutral  ground."* 

There  were  four  parties  in  the  field  in  this  cam- 
paign, which  added  to  the  hardship  of  Douglas  who 
spoke  in  nearly  every  free  State  in  the  Union  and  in 
many  of  the  slave  States.  In  the  course  of  his  speech 
in  Baltimore  he  made  this  bold  statement :  "It  is  my 
opinion  that  there  is  a  well  matured  plan  through- 

*  Life   of   Douglas,   part   XXIX,  page  622. 


264  Abraham  Lincoln 

out  the  southern  States  to  break  up  the  Union.  I 
believe  the  election  of  a  Republican  is  to  be  the  signal 
for  that  attempt,  and  that  the  leaders  of  the  scheme 
desire  the  election  of  Lincoln  so  as  to  have  an  ex- 
cuse for  disunion.  I  do  not  believe  that  every 
Breckenridge  man  is  a  disunionist,  but  I  do  believfc 
that  every  disunionist  in  America  is  a  Breckenridge 
man." 

These  were  strong,  prophetic  words,  and  there 
was  not  a  man  in  all  the  northern  part  of  the  United 
States,  who  was  more  outspoken  in  his  utterances 
against  disunionists  from  this  time  onward  until  his 
death  than  Mr.  Douglas.  And  the  writer,  though 
not  having  reached  the  years  of  his  majority,  was  in- 
terested enough  in  the  record  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
to  remember  this  fact.  I  give  following  this  general 
statement  some  of  the  outspoken  words  of  Douglas 
as  he  went  to  and  forth  canvassing  in  the  differ- 
ent States.  He  was  a  thorough  Unionist,  and  seem- 
ed more  anxious  over  this  subject  than  on  all  others. 
"When  speaking  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  he  left  no  room, 
for  doubt  as  to  his  position  when  he  answered  the 
person  who  handed  him  a  written  question,  whether, 
if  elected,  he  would  maintain  the  Union  by  force. 
"I  answer  emphatically"  replied  Douglas,  "that  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 
all  others  in  authority  under  him  to  enforce  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  passed  by  Congress,  and  as  the 
courts  expound  them,  and  I,  as  in  my  duty  bound  by 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  265 

my  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Constitution,  would  do  all 
in  my  power  to  aid  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  in  maintaining  the  supremacy  of  the  laws 
against  all  resistence  to  them,  come  from  what  quar- 
ter it  might.  In  other  words,  I  think  the  President, 
whoever  he  may  be,  should  treat  all  attempts  to  break 
up  the  Union  by  resistance  to  the  laws,  as  Old  Hick- 
ory treatd  the  nullifiers  in  1832. 

"Asked  at  another  point  whether  he  would  join 
in  an  effort  to  dissolve  the  Union  if  Lincoln  were 
elected,  he  answered,  'I  tell  them  no;  never  on  earth." 

"At  Petersburg,  he  expressed  the  opinion  that 
there  was  'no  evil  which  the  Constitution  and  laws 
do  not  furnish  a  remedy  for;  no  grievance  that  can 
justify  disunion." 

"At  Raleigh,  he  stated  that  he  was  ready,  'to  put 
the  hemp  around  the  neck,  and  hang  any  man  who 
would  raise  the  arm  of  resistence  to  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  country.'  'The  country'  he  said, 
'had  already  demonstrated  its  power,  and  now  there 
is  one  thing  remaining  to  be  done,  in  order  to  prove 
us  capable  of  meeting  any  emergency ;  and  when  the 
time  comes,  I  trust  the  government  will  show  itself 
strong  enough  to  perform  that  final  deed — hang  a 
traitor/  "  * 

It  may  be  asked,  what  was  the  distinctive  dif- 
ference in  mind  of  these  two  men,  Douglas  and  Lin- 
coln, as  to  the  possibility  of  the  attempt  to  destroy 

*  Statement    from    Mr.     Stevens'    Life    of    Douglas,    Part    XXVII, 

pages   623   and   624. 


266  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  Union  just  at  this  period?  I  transcribe  a  para- 
graph from  this  same  work  of  Mr.  Stevens,  which  is 
in  point  here : 

"Douglas  in  effect  declared  that  he  cared  more 
for  peace  than  for  the  fate  of  the  negro.  Lincoln, 
casuist  and  prophet,  on  the  contrary  seemed  to  care 
more  for  the  negro  than  for  peace,  at  least  he  could 
not  be  made  to  see  the  dangers  of  war.  'But  when  the 
legitimate  result  of  philanthropic  solicitude  actual- 
ly broke  upon  the  country  in  the  shape  of  disunion 
and  war,  Lincoln  was  obliged  to  recant  his  philan- 
thropy and  embrace  the  mere  statesmanship  of  Mr. 
Douglas.'  'My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Un- 
ion and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If 
I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slaves 
I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some 
and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that." 

There  is  an  important  foot  note  which  the  author 
makes  bearing  upon  his  statements  in  the  immediate 
paragraph  above,  concerning  Mr.  Lincoln,  "the 
casuist  and  prophet,  who  could  not  be  made  to  see 
the  dangers  of  war"  in  the  agitation  of  the  sub- 
ject of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  which  Mr.  Douglas 
declared  "meant  the  greatest  of  all  wars."  I  place 
the  footnote  here  in  the  body  of  the  text,  and  it  is 
this :  "At  Alton  Lincoln  declared,  'There  never  was 
a  party  in  the  history  of  this  country  and  there 
probably  never  will  be,  of  sufficient  strength  to  dis- 
turb the  general  peace  of  the  country.***  Whenever 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  267 

the  issue  can  be  distinctly  made  and  all  extraneous 
matters  thrown  out  so  that  men  can  fairly  see  the 
difference  between  the  parties,  this  controversy  will 
soon  be  settled  and  it  will  be  done  peacefully  too. 
There  will  be  no  war,  no  violence.'  " 

I  give  another  instance  of  his  mistaken  prog- 
nostication on  the  same  subject  a  short  time  after 
his  election  and  before  his  inauguration  in  office. 
After  his  election  and  before  he  left  for  Washing- 
ton, he  occupied  a  room  which  had  been  fitted  up 
for  him  in  the  old  capitol  building,  now  the  County 
Court  House,  where  he  might  meet  and  entertain 
his  friends.  Mr.  George  R.  Weber  related  the  in- 
cident to  the  writer  he  is  about  to  give,  and  it  took 
place  here,  and  on  this  wise :  Mr.  Weber  was  ac- 
companied by  a  son  whom  he  had  been  teaching,  it 
appears,  a  paraphrase  of  Patrick  Henry's  speech 
in  which  occurs  "Every  gale  that  sweeps  from  the 
north  brings  to  our  ears  the  clash  of  resounding 
arms !  The  enemy  are  already  in  the  field :  Why 
stand  we  here  idle?"  The  word  "North"  was 
changed  so  as  to  make  it  "every  gale  which  sweeps 
from  the  South  brings  to  our  ears  the  clash  af  re- 
sounding arms."  What  had  been  intended  for  the 
lad  to  repeat  to  the  President-elect,  was  repeated  by 
the  senior  Weber  himself,  not  calling  upon  his  son, 
being  so  highly  wrought  up  at  the  news  of  the  day. 
Listening  patiently,  for  a  moment,  Mr.  Lincoln 
buried  his  face  in  his  hands,  and  then  looking  up, 


268  Abraham  Lincoln 

shaking  his  head  in  expostulation,  insistently  de- 
clared that  there  "could  not,  would  not,  be  war." 
And  he  believed  that  there  would  not  be  war. 

There  remains  only  one  more  feature  of  the 
character  of  Mr.  Douglas  concerning  which  the 
writer  would  say  only  a  few  brief  words;  namely, 
his  religious  tendencies.  The  writer  does  not  know 
if  he  ever  united  with  any  church,  but  he  attended 
church,  and  he  was  not  an  unbeliever.  The  im- 
pression of  the  writer  is,  however,  that  he  never 
became  a  church  member.  On  religious  matters 
it  is  said  by  those  who  knew  him  best,  that  he  was 
not  a  sectarian  in  his  views,  but  that  he"was  a  firm 
believer  in  the  Bible  as  being  the  word  of  God  in 
the  sense  in  which  that  expression  is  generally  un- 
derstood, and  that  true  religion  is  a  factor  of  in- 
finite benefit  to  mankind."  His  mother  was  a 
Christian,  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  while 
also  his  sister  was  a  regular  attendant  upon  Baptist 
church  services.  All  this  meant  something.  This 
has  been  written  of  him:  "In  all  his  public  utter- 
ances, you  will  search  in  vain  for  a  word  of  disre- 
spect  or   doubt   of   a   Supreme   Being — God." 


CHAPTER  XI 

Early  Days  in  Illinois 

The  Two  Partisans, 

and 

Some  Others 

HERE  IS  something  pathetic  in  the  winding 
up  of  the  careers  to  these  two  partisans — 
patriots  true,  indeed ;  and  in  their  meeting  in 
Washington  on  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  AfTecting  was  it  in  the  extreme  in 
view  of  the  rivalry  there  had  been  between  them. 
That  meeting  is  the  best  illustration  that  could  be 
given  of  the  real  character  of  the  two  men.  It  is 
said  they  met  in  Washington  some  days  before  the 
inauguration,  and  were  closited  together.  They  laid 
aside  their  old  animosity,  and  were  true  friends. 
Mr.  Lincoln  read  to  Douglas  his  inaugural  address, 
and  on  the  day  of  its  delivery,  Douglas  stood  beside 
him,  and  the  crowning  act  was  when  Lincoln's  high 
hat  was  handed  to  a  young  reporter,  Mr.  Waterson, 
it  was  taken  by  Mr.  Douglas  and  held  by  him  dur- 
269 


270  Abraham  Lincoln 

ing  the  entire  ceremony,  while  the  aged  Judge  Taney, 
who  wrote  the  Dred  Scott  Decision,  inducted  in  to 
office  the  man  who  was  to  make  that  opinion  for- 
ever null  and  void.  All  this  was  simple  and  artless 
in  the  acts  themselves  whose  "significance  was  not 
lost."* 

What  a  happy  moment  it  must  have  been  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  be  surrounded  at  such  a  time  by  so  many 
of  his  old  time  friends  who  once  were  his  at  Spring- 
field in  their  young  manhood  days  in  their  mix-ups, 
now  gathered  close  to  his  side  on  the  occasion  of 
one  of  that  number  being  ushered  into  office  the 
highest  his  countrymen  could  bestow,  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States! 

He  was  fortunate  to  have  them  there.  It  was 
not  now  as  at  the  time  when  in  pioneer  life  they 
were  gathered  around  the  crackling  fireplace  in 
Joshua  Speed's  store  doing  their  literary  or  polit- 
ical "stunts,"  vieing  with  each  other  in  their  rude 
but  friendly  way,  and  wondering,  possibly,  what 
was  in  store  for  them  in  the  future  of  their  more 
manly  lives.  View  them  as  Senators  now  in  their 
changed  conditions :  Edward  D.  Baker,  United 
States  Senator  from  Oregon,  as  he  stands  up  to  in- 
troduce in  appropriate  terms  such  as  he  knew  how 
to  do  in  a  few  words,  his  very  respected  friend  to 
the  vast  audience  gathered  there  to  witness  the  cere- 
mony;   Mr.    McDougal,    another   of    his   quondam 

*  Some  foregoing  statements  from  Newton's  Lincoln  and  Hern- 
don,      page  285. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  271 

friends  from  Jacksonville,  standing  near  him,  now 
United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  California; 
lastly  but  not  least  in  rank  and  fame,  Judge  Douglas, 
the  "Little  Giant,"  and  his  great  competitor  in  de- 
bate and  for  office,  standing  by  his  side  and  hold- 
ing his  high  silk  hat  and  intently  listening  to  the 
inaugural  address  of  his  friend  and  meanwhile  nod- 
ding his  head  in  approval,  with  such  exclamations 
as  "Good!"  "That's  fair!"  "No  backing  out  there!" 
"That's  a  good  point !"  and  the  like, which  he  is  said 
to  have  uttered.* 

Then,  also,  there  were  others  of  his  personal 
friends,  Congressmen,  who  had  been  re-elected,  sur- 
rounding him  among  whom  were  Richardson,  Mc- 
Clernand,  John  A.  Logan. 

"What  a  reversal  of  fortune !"  says  Mr.  Stevens 
in  his  life  of  Douglas,  in  speaking  of  him  in  con- 
nection with  Mr.  Lincoln  on  this  occasion.  "Lin- 
coln swiftly,  pathetically,  alluding  to  the  giddy 
heights  Douglas  in  1856  had  reached — now  Douglas 
holding  the  hat  of  his  humble  rival  of  other  days !" 

"It  was  a  tejnder  little  tribute  which  could  come 
only  from  a  friendship,  strong  and  enduring,  born 
amidst  the  happy  hardships  of  rude  pioneer  life, 
where  friendships  are  as  strong  as  the  men  who 
build  states."*  , 

Whatever  remains  to  be  said  by  the  writer  con- 
cerning Mr.  Douglas  in  this  treatise,  he  feels  it  must 

*  Stevens. 

*  Stevens  in  his  Life  of  Douglas,  page  672. 


272  Abraham  Lincoln 

be  said  here  in  this  chapter ;  and,  in  doing  so,  he  is  de- 
pendent upon  what  others  have  said  of  him  "When 
a  shell  burst  over  Fort  Sumpter,  on  April  12th, 
says  Mr.  Newton  in  his  book  on  Lincoln  and  Hern- 
don  ' 'Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  cemented  in  one 
common  aim.  From  that  day  on,  they  were  in  fre- 
quent consultation,  and  the  sorely  tried  President 
was  grateful  for  the  grip  of  so  strong  a  hand.  Late 
at  night,  April  14th,  Douglas  heard  Lincoln  read 
his  call  for  75,000  men,  and  suggested  that  the  num- 
ber should  be  200,000;  for  he,  at  least,  did  not  un- 
derrate the  chivalry  and  valor  of  the  South.  At 
once  he  offered  his  services  to  the  President,  will- 
ing <to  go  or  stay  where  he  could  do  the  most  good. 
Lincoln  asked  him  to  go  to  Illinois,  where  his  voice 
was  like  a  bugle  and  unify  the  State.  There  was 
a  quick  hand-grasp,  a  hurried  farewell,  and  they  met 
no  more."  Say  we  not  well  that  such  a  parting 
was  touching?  "His  speeches  on  the  way  out,"  says 
the  same  authority,  were  pitched  in  a  lofty,  patri- 
otic key,  and  his  address  before  the  Legislature  of 
his  own  State  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  his  life." 
It  was  in  this  speech  that  he  uttered  that  supreme 
appeal  which  smacks  of  that  religious  trend  of  his 
belief :  "I  believe  in  my  conscience  that  it  is  a  duty 
that  we  owe  to  ourselves  and  our  children  and  to  our 
God,  to  protect  the  government  and  that  flag  from 
every  assailant,  be  he  who  he  may."* 

Now  he   is   his   natural   self.        The   partisan  is 

*         Newton  Stevens 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  273 

emerged  into  the  patriot,  and  he  speaks  the  true  lan- 
guage of  his  heart.  He  no  longer  veils  his  true  sent- 
iment. Once  he  said/'If  I  were  a  citizen  of  Lou- 
isiana,  I  would  vote  for  retaining  and  maintaining 
slavery,  because  I  believe  the  good  of  that  people 
require  it.  As  a  citizen  of  Illinois,  I  am  utterly  op- 
posed to  it,  because  our  institutions  would  not  be 
promoted  by  it."  Then  he  stood  behind  a  political 
policy,  and  hid  his  real  sentiment;  but  now  he  is  a 
changed  man  with  regard  to  that  institution  which 
was  making  trouble  and  was  bringing  the  perpetuity 
of  the  government  into  jeopardy  and  threatening 
the  destruction  of  the  Union.  Behold!  now  he 
speaks  plainly,  as  the  biographer  we  have  been  main- 
ly  followly   in  the   latter  part  of  the  notes,  says : 

"He  awoke  to  the  belief  that  there  rested  behind 
the  institution,  a  deep  seated  conspiracy  to  dissolve 
the  Union.  And  he  then  declared,  He  would  favor 
just  so  much  extension  of  slave  territory  and  just 
so  many  slaves  as  the  conspirators  could  hold  at 
the  point  of  a  bayonet." 

There  was  one  portion  of  Illinois  about  which 
both  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Douglas  were  anxious. 
It  was  that  portion  which  lies  within  the  limits  of 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  which  was  called 
"Egypt"  by  the  way  of  distinction  from  other  parts. 
In  the  early  history  of  the  State  it  was  settled  by 
many  Southern  people  from  different  states.  They 
had  brought  their  slaves   with  them  when   it  was 


274  Abraham  Lincoln 

thought  to  carry  the  institution  of  slavery  into  the 
whole  Northwest  and  especially  Illinois,  thus  mak- 
ing that  institution  perpetual,  if  possible.  It  was 
here  that  Douglas  had  purposed  going  in  order  to 
proclaim  the  new  doctrine  which  might  be  needed, 
the  salvation  of  the  Union,  to  unite  into  a  solid  bond 
the  northern  and  southern  regions  if  perchance,  they 
might  be  at  variance  in  that  perilous  time.  It  was 
here  that  in  a  more  recent  date  when  Douglas  had 
come  into  great  prominence  he  had  spread  abroad 
his  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty  which  consisted 
in  the  right,  as  they  thought,  to  carry  that  institu- 
tion into  the  territory  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska. 
When  upon  the  election  of  Lincoln  as  President, 
rebellion  against  the  government  broke  out  and 
states  in  the  South  began  to  secede  from  the  Un- 
ion, and  Douglas  was  obliged  to  recant  his  doctrine 
of  popular  Sovereignty,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was 
thought  that  it  might  have  been  necessary  to  go  into 
this  region  and  do  a  little  work  in  pacifying  them. 
The  writer  does  not  know  if  he  went  there  after  he 
left  Washington,  but  he  thinks  it  did  not  become 
necessary.  This  great  speech  before  the  State  Leg- 
islature at  Springfield  settled  everything,  "putting 
to  shame,"  as  one  of  the  biographers  of  Lincoln 
has  expressed  it,  the  devices  of  Gen.  John  A.  Lo- 
gan."* 

It  was  at  Springfield  that  Logan  had  his  last  in- 
terview with   Douglas,  in  which  the  latter  said  to 

*  Newton's    Lincoln    and    Herndon,    page    286. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  27 S 

him :  'The  time  has  now  arrived  when  a  man  must 
be  either  for  or  against  his  country.  Indeed  so 
strongly  do  I  feel  this,  and  that  further  dalliance 
with  this  question  is  useless,  that  I  shall  myself 
take  steps  to  join  the  army  and  fight  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Union." 

It  is  said  of  this  speech  of  Douglas,  as  coming 
from  James  G.  Blaine:  "No  message  carried  con- 
fidence to  move  hearts  or  gave  greater  strength  to 
the  National  cause."  Mr.  Stevens  says  of  it : 
"There  was  just  one  object  they  [the  people  in 
southern  Illinois]  adored  more  than  the  firesides  of 
their  ancestors  and  that  was  Douglas.  Like  wild- 
fire his  speech  spread  through  Egypt  and  over  into 
the  border  states,  and  without  a  draft,  Egypt  fur 
nished  more  than  its  quota  of  men  to  the  Union 
armies." 

Mr.  Horace  White  has  recorded  his  opinion  of 
this  speech  like  this :  "I  heard  Mr.  Douglas  deliver 
his  speech  to  the  members  of  the  Illinois  Legisla- 
ture, April  25th,  1861,  in  the  gathering  tumult  of 
arms.  It  was  like  a  blast  of  thunder.  I  do  not 
think  it  possible  for  a  human  being  to  produce  a 
more  prodigious  effect  with  spoken  words.*  *  *  He 
was  standing  in  the  same  place  where  I  first  heard 
Mr.  Lincoln.  That  speech  hushed  the  breath  of 
treason  in  every  corner  of  the  State." 

After  this  speech  at  Springfield,  he  was  invited  by 
the  people  of  Chicago  to  address  them.    This  he  did 


276  Abraham  Lincoln  * 

at  the  Wigwam.  He  was  received  by  them  as  never 
before.  All  joined  in  paying  tribute  to  him,  friend 
and  foe  alike,  who  had  emerged  into  a  patriot,  and 
this  occasion  was  another  of  the  great  efforts  of  his 
life.  Soon  after  this  he  was  taken  sick,  and  became 
delirious,  but  "even  in  his  delirium,"  it  is  said,  "he 
was  battling  for  the  Union."  He  died  June  3rd, 
in  the  "prime  of  life,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight. 
Great  was  the  grief  at  his  'passing  away.  Chicago, 
deeply  draped  in  mourning,  laid  him  away  with  al- 
most royal  pomp  beside  the  lake."  We  are  told  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  on  receiving  the  news  of  his  death 
shed  tears  of  bitter  grief  which  ran  down  his  cheeks 
at  the  loss  of  so  dear  a  friend,  and  for  the  loss  of 
so  firm  a  support  to  the  nation. 

To  this  I  subjoin  the  fitting  tribute  of  Henry 
Waterson :  "I  knew  Judge  Douglas  well :  I  admired, 
respected,  loved  him,  I  shall  never  forget  the  day 
he  quitted  Washington  to  go  to  his  home  in  Illinois. 
He  had  burned  the  candle  at  both  ends,  *  *  *  and, 
though  not  yet  fifty,  the  candle  had  burned  out. 
His  infirmities  were  no  greater  than  those  of  Clay; 
not  to  be  mentioned  with  those  of  Webster.  *  *  * 
No  one  has  found  occasion  to  come  to  the  rescue  of 
his  fame.  No  party  interest  has  been  identified  with 
his  memory.  But  when  the  truth  of  history  is  writ- 
ten, it  will  be  told  that,  not  less  than  Webster  and 
Clay,  he,  too,  was  a  patriotic  man,  who  loved  his 
country  and  tried  to  save  the  Union." 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  277 

Two  remarks  by  Mr.  Waterson  in  the  above  ex- 
cerpt deserve  a  passing  notice :  "No  one  has  found 
occasion  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  his  fame"  and 
"No  party  interest  has  been  identified  with  his  mem- 
ory." While  that  was  true  at  the  time  in  which  it 
was  written,  it  cannot  be  said  that  it  is  so  now. 
Persons  do  come  forth  today  with  due  appreciation 
of  his  sterling  worth  and  do  justice  to  his  fame  in 
the  works  that  are  being  written  of  him;  and  if  no 
strictly  party  interest  has  arisen  to  identify  itself 
with  his  memory,  the  great  State  of  Illinois  through 
its  Legislative  branch  without  regard  to  policies 
erected  a  bronze  statue  of  him  in  the  Southeast 
corner  of  the  State  House  grounds  at  Springfield 
indicative  of  honor  and  reverence  for  his  memory, 
which  was  unveiled  on  the  occasion  of  the  Centen- 
nial celebrating  of  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Federal  Union.  The  expense  of  this  statue  was 
paid  for  out  of  the  state  treasury,  some  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars.  This  statue  is  said  to  be  a  very 
fine  piece  of  work  as  to  the  work  of  the  artist  in  his 
likeness  of  the  man,  and  was  unveiled  the  same  day 
as  a  companion  piece  to  the  Lincoln  statue  of  the 
Farewell  address  of  the  sculptor,  Andrew  O'Connor. 

In  looking  over  the  list  of  the  names  of  those 
concerning  whom  something  should  be  said,  there 
appear  a  few  names  connected  with  the  history  of 
Springfield  and  incidentally  with  Lincoln  together 
with  a  few  events  and  incidents  which  not  all  readers 


278  Abraham  Lincoln 

know  and  others  may  have  forgotten.  This  needs 
to  be  related.  Among  these  appears  the  names  of 
three  persons  who  were  well  known.  These  were 
Hon.  Richard  Yates,  governor  of  Illinois  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  a  brilliant  man,  indeed, 
and  an  esteemed  friend  of  Lincoln ;  U.  S.  Grant,  and 
Elmer  Elsworth,  the  latter  once  a  law  student  in 
the  office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon. 

In  looking  over  some  of  Mr.  Weber's  private 
papers  there  is  an  autograph  letter  from  Gov.  Yates 
appointing  Mr.  Weber  Commissary  of  Subsistence 
at  Camp  Yates  which  was  at  the  old  fair  grounds 
west  of  Springfield.  This  was  the  Camp  of  the 
Illinois  State  Militia  before  being  mustered  into  the 
regular  United  States  service.  Gen.  Grant  was  at 
this  camp.  He  was  then  a  Lieutenant,  and  was  ap- 
pointed by  Gov.  Yates  to  drill  the  Militia  at  this 
camp.  Gov.  Yates  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize 
his  worth,  and  honored  him  for  his  integrity.  There 
was  also  Elmer  Elsworth  at  this  camp,  afterward 
Colonel  of  the  famous  "Elsworth  Zouaves,"  who 
was  killed  by  one  Jackson  at  Alexandria,  Virginia, 
while  removing  a  rebel  flag  from  a  hotel  operated 
by  Jackson.  It  was  Elsworth  of  whom  Lincoln 
said,  "He  is  a  young  man  who  seems  to  have  a 
real  genius  for  war." 

Mr.  Weber  has  rescued  a  little  speech  of  Gov. 
Yates,  which  would  never  have  become  known  but 
for  him.  I  give  it  as  I  find  it  with  its  connections 
in  Mr.  Weber's  papers. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  279 

"In  the  Spring  of  1860,  the  republican  State 
convention  met  at  Decatur,  and  nominated  Richard 
Yates,  the  republican  candidate  for  governor  of 
Illinois.  Governor  Yates  was  one  of  the  most  ac- 
complished governors  of  our  noble  state.  He  was 
patriotic,  brave,  eloquent  and  generous.  We  shall 
never  forget  a  little  speech  he  made  in  the  gover- 
nor's mansion,  near  the  close  of  the  war,  in  re- 
sponse to  a  serenade  party  on  an  occasion  of  news 
of  a  great  Union  victory.  The  speech  was  never 
in  print,  and  as  it  is  short,  it  ought  to  be  preserved. 
Here  it  is :  'When  elected  governor  of  this  State,  I 
expected  to  have  an  easy  time,  with  little  more  to 
do  than  to  sign  commissions  for  civil  officers,  to 
write  a  few  messages  to  the  legislature,  a  few  re- 
prieves, and  receipts  for  my  salary ;  but  I  assure  you 
I  have  done  more  work,  hard  work — caused  by  the 
war — than  the  work  of  all  my  predecessors  put  to- 
gether, and  God  Almighty  never  made  a  weaker 
piece  of  humanity  than  I  am." 

"This  last  sentence  was  uttered  with  such  pathos, 
and  with  such  a  forlorn  face  that  stout  hearted  men 
were  moved  to  tears  to  see  one  so  loved  struggling 
fearfully  in  the  toils  of  intemperance.  He  might 
have  been  President.  He  commissioned  Grant.  He 
nerved  the  right  arm  of  Lincoln.  He  detested 
slavery,  yet  he  lived  a  slave  and  died  a  slave  to  a 
more  cruel  master  than  Legree  who  whipped  'Uncle 
Tom'  to  death." 


280  Abraham  Lincoln 

Gov.  Yates  was  a  citizen  of  Jacksonville,  and  was 
a  brilliant  and  accomplished  man.  He  was  Governor 
during  the  hardest  part  of  the  struggle  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rebellion,  a  period  extending  from 
1861  to  1865.  After  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
office  as  Governor,  he  was  elected  United  States 
Senator  as  a  compliment  and  reward  for  his  patri- 
otism during  the  time  he  was  Governor.  He  died  in 
1873,  while  still  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Senate. 

The  next  Governor  who  followed  him  was 
Richard  J.  Oglesby.  He  had  a  good  record  behind 
him  as  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war,  having  been  in 
the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz  and  in  the  battle  of  Cerro 
Gordo.  He  was  distinguished  as  an  orator,  and  de- 
livered the  oration  at  the  time  of  unveiling  of  the 
Lincoln  Statue  of  the  Lincoln  Monument  at  Oak 
Ridge  while  in  the  period  of  his  United  States  Sen- 
atorship.  He  was  three  times  Governor  of  Illinois. 
He  resigned  that  office  soon  after  being  elected  the 
second  time  in  order  to  become  United  States  Sen- 
ator. The  third  time  he  became  Governor  was 
after  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  as  senator. 
He  was  colonel  of  the  8th  Regiment  of  Illinois 
volunteers  in  the  Civil  War,  and  for  his  gallantry  at 
Fort  Donaldson,  at  Fort  Henry  and  at  Corinth  he 
obtained  the  rank  of  Major  General.  He  was 
severely  wounded  at  the  last  named  battle.  He  died 
in  1899.    He  was  a  familiar  personage  on  the  streets 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  281 

of  Springfield,  though  not  a  citizen  proper  of  Spring- 
field, but  of  Lincoln,  Illinois,  where  was  his  home. 

General  John  M.  Palmer  was  the  Governor  who 
succeeded  Gov.  Oglesby.  He  was  a  citizen  of  Carlin- 
ville,  but  after  his  term  of  office  as  Governor  ex- 
pired, he  became  a  citizen  of  Springfield,  making 
his  home  there  until  he  died.  For  a  term  of  years 
he  with  his  son,  John  Mayo  Palmer,  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  the  law,  which  was  his  profession.  He 
was  a  strong  man  and  an  able  Governor.  During 
the  Civil  War  he  became  the  Colonel  of  the  14th 
Illinois  Volunteers,  and  was  promoted  to  Brigadier- 
General  in  1861,  and  was  made  Major-General  in 
1863;  but  in  1869,  he  was  elected  Governor  on  the 
Republican  ticket.  In  1888,  he  went  back  to  the 
Democratic  ranks  where  he  had  always  been,  and 
received  the  nomination  for  Governor  on  that 
ticket,  but  was  defeated.  In  1891,  however,  he  was 
elected  United  States  Senator  by  the  Legislature. 
In  the  Centennial  edition  of  the  Illinois  State  Regis- 
ter, I  find  this  record  of  him :  "Gov.  Palmer  was  a 
scholarly  man  of  excellent  literary  attainments  and 
wrote  his  personal  reminiscences  which  were  publish- 
ed under  the  title  of,  "The  Story  of  an  Earnest  Life.  " 

I  add  in  connection  with  him  this  brief  note: 
His  daughter,  M^rs.  Jessie  Palmer  Weber,  has  in- 
herited somewhat  of  his  native  ability  in  this  direc- 
tion. She  is  well  and  favorably  known  in  literary 
circles,    especially    in   Illinois,   as   a   person   of   fine 


282  Abraham  Lincoln 

literary  taste  and  excellent  ability.  She  is  at  present 
Librarian,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Illinois 
State  Historical  Society  at  Springfield.  She  is  also 
principal  Editor  of  "Journal  °f  tne  State  Historical 
Society,"  or  Quarterly  Magazine  published  by  the 
Society. 

There  is  one  more  name  among  the  governors  of 
Illinois  of  which  the  writer  wishes  to  make  mention 
on  this  page.  It  is  the  name  of  Shelby  M.  Cullom. 
He  was  personally  known  to  him  almost  the  entire 
time  of  his  public  career  dating  from  the  time  he 
was  elected  from  Sangamon  County  to  the  State 
Legislature  on  the  American  ticket.  He  was  the 
next  elected  governor  of  Illinois  after  Gov.  Palmer. 
He  was  elected  to  that  office  in  1876,  and  re-elected 
to  the  same  office  in  1880-  In  1883  he  was  elected 
United  States  Senator,  and  continued  to  fill  that  of- 
fice until  1913.  Before  this  period  he  had  repre- 
sented his  Congressional  District  at  Washington. 
It  was  in  this  latter  mentioned  period,  in  1868,  he 
rendered  the  writer  the  favor  of  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion to  the  State  Department  at  Washington  which 
procured  for  him  a  passport  while  on  a  visit  to 
European  countries. 

I  give  here  a  little  meeting  which  Mr.  Weber 
with  his  little  son  Johnie  had  with  Mr.  Lincoln  at 
his  office.  It  seems  to  have  been  sometime  during 
the  campaign  for  the  Presidency.  Repairing  with 
"Johnie"  to  Mr.   Lincoln's  office,  he  had  the  little 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  283 

lad   repeat   a  short  campaign  poem  which  he  had 
been  taught. 

I  give  here  four  stanzas  of  the  poem  repeated, 
entitled 

HONEST  OLD  ABE 
"Hurrah,  hurrah  for  freedom's  cause! 
Let  every  banner  wave; 
Abe  Lincoln  is  the  man  we  need 
Our  dear  old  flag  to  save. 
The  ship  of  state  has  been  abused 
Until  she's  sprung  a  leak; 
They've  run  the  good  old  ship  aground 
'Till   all   her   timbers    creak. 
We'll  have  her  cleared  from  keel  to  truck, 
Make  all  her  rigging  new, 
Stop  all  her  democratic  leaks, 
And  ship  an  honest  crew. 
Old  Abe's  the  boy  who  split  the  rails, 
He's  honest,  just  and  brave, 
And  where  he  points  her  mighty  prow 
Will  freedom's  banner  wave." 

There  were  two  more  stanzas  which  I  do  not 
give,  except  two  lines  of  the  last  one  which  were 
this: 

This  so  pleased  Mr.  Lincoln  that  he  took  the 
little  fellow  upon  his  lap  while  he  caressed  him  and 
spoke  kindly  and  good  naturedly  to  him.  The 
verses  may  not  be  valuable  so  much  for  their  merit 
as  a  poem  as  for  the  occasion  of  their  memory,  and 
the  incident  is  a  little  episode  in  the  happenings  of 
a  family  which  is  pleasant  to  remember,  which 
brought  them  in  connection  with  the  great  Lincoln. 


"The  honest-hearted  patriot, 
Old  Abe  of  Illinois." 


284  Abraham  Lincoln 

Mr.  Weber  also  held  the  office  of  Commissary  of 
Subsistence  of  volunteers  at  Camp  Butler  under  Mr. 
Lincoln,  having  received  his  commission  from  him 
March  30th,  1864.  Mr.  Ninian  Edwards,  a  relative 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  marriage,  held  the  office  before 
this.  Some  things  were  not  going  right  in  the 
office — some  looseness  in  methods  of  supplying  food 
for  the  soldiers,  which  amounted  to  a  species  of 
graft,  it  was  thought,  and  the  warm,  personal 
friends  of  the  President  became  dissatisfied  at  the 
conduct  of  the  officer,  and  through  their  jealousy 
for  the  good  name  of  the  latter  took  the  matter  up 
to  have  the  affairs  of  the  office  regulated.  But 
when  it  became  necessary  for  some  one  of  these  to 
assume  responsibility  and  write  to  the  President  con- 
cerning this  delicate  matter  (Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Mrs. 
Edwards  were  sisters)  no  one  seemed  to  wish  to 
do  it.  They  formed  among  themselves  a  committee 
to  wait  upon  Mr.  Weber  in  order  to  prevail  upon 
him  to  do  this  bit  of  clerical  work.  He  wrote  a  per- 
sonal, friendly  letter  direct  to  the  President,  stating 
to  him  the  substance  of  this  delicate  nature  of  the 
business,  and  that  he  had  been  requested  to  lay  it 
before  him;  that  the  committee  of  his  old  friends, 
republicans  and  democrats  alike,  thought  for  the 
sake  of  his  reputation  he  would  better  look  into  the 
matter.  In  a  few  days  word  came  back.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln wrote  in  return  under  his  own  hand  and  sig- 
nature, suggesting  the  names  of  several  men  whom 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  285 

he  believed  honest  and  fearless,  among  whom  was 
the  name  of  George  R.  Weber.  He  wrote  that  he 
would  appoint  anyone  of  these  men  which  his  friends 
at  Springfield  agreed  upon.  George  R.  Weber  was 
selected  and  duly  commissioned.  I  have  seen  the 
original  commission  and  have  a  copy  of  it  before 
me  while  writing.  There  is  nothing  unusual  about 
it.  It  gives  to  Mr.  Weber  the  rank  of  Captain  in 
the  services  of  the  United  States,  to  take  rank  as 
such  from  the  22nd  day  of  June,  1864.* 

There  are  two  or  three  more  points  concerning 
President  Lincoln  which  need  to  be  related,  two  of 
which  were  sad  events  to  the  citizens  of  Springfield. 
The  first  event  to  relate  is  the  giving  up  of  an  in- 
estimable citizen  to  go  to  the  capital  of  the  nation 
and  become  the  nation's  chief;  and  the  other,  a 
sadder  event,  still,  when  the  nation  returned  him  to 
them  dead,  for  the  last  sad  rite  of  his  obsequies  after 
he  had  been  laid  low  by  the  fatal  shot  of  the  assassin, 
Booth.  It  was  the  result  of  the  contention  which 
had  been  going  on  for  some  years  for  the  mastery 
of  the  two  sets  of  principles — contention  of  right 
and  wrong  for  the  mastery,  liberty  and  slavery.  We 
recall  in  this  connection  the  words  of  Lincoln  al- 
ready quoted  in  a  former  chapter  from  his  Alton 
speech.  He  said  then  of  the  contention:  "It  will 
continue  in  this  country  when  these  poor  tongues 

*  Mr.    Weber    placed    his    nephew,    Mr.    H.    K.    Weber,    the   present 

incumbent  of  the  office  of  the  presidency  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Springfield,  then  recently  having  come  from  Cumberland,  Mary- 
land out  at  the  Camp  to  represent  him  in  the  transaction  of  the 
business. 


286  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent. "  How 
little  did  he  realize  how  soon  that  would  be!  the 
one  which  had  contended  so  eloquently  for  the 
right,  and  the  other  for  the  wrong,  would  be  ren- 
dered mute! 

And  now  we  record  the  parting  of  Lincoln  from 
his  friends  at  home.  It  is  this  which  took  on  a 
saddening  aspect.  I  can  do  no  better  than  to  give 
the  substance  of  what  has  been  recorded  by  Mr. 
Herndon.  Before  leaving  for  Washington,  he 
slipped  away  to  visit  the  grave  of  his  father,  and 
also  he  rode  to  Farmington,  in  Coles  County,  to 
see  his  aged  step-mother  who  was  still  living.  "Amid 
such  scenes  of  farewell,  and  the  kindly  greetings 
of  old  and  dear  friends,  a  gloom  as  of  the  grave 
overshadowed,  reviving  the  pre-monition  of  which 
he  talked  to  Herndon  as  early  as  1843,  that  some 
violent  end  was  to  overtake  him  at  last. 

"The  last  afternoon  before  he  left  for  Washing- 
ton was  spent  with  Herndon  in  the  office,  in  which 
they  had  toiled,  planned,  and  dreamed  together.  He 
locked  the  door,  and  after  going  over  the  cases,  con- 
cerning which  he  had  certain  requests  to  make,  and 
a  few  suggestions  as  to  methods  of  procedure,  they 
talked  as  old  comrades.  Lincoln  asked  his  partner 
if  he  wanted  any  office,  and  if  so,  to  name  it.  Hern- 
don wanted  no  office,  except  that  of  bank  examiner 
which  he  then  held,  and  Lincoln  said  he  would 
speak  to  Richard  Yates,  the  incoming  Governor, 
in  his  behalf."* 

*         Newton's   Lincoln   and   Herndon. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  287 

Here  is  how  Mr.  Herndon  gives  an  account  of 
the  last  afternoon  spent  together  after  they  were 
through  with  what  took  place  in  the  account  as 
given  in  the  paragraph  above :  "He  crossed  to  the 
opposite  side  of  the  room  and  threw  himself  down 
on  the  old  office  sofa,  which,  after  many  years  of 
service,  had  been  moved  against  the  wall  for  sup- 
port. He  lay  down  for  a  few  moments,  his  face 
toward  the  ceiling,  without  either  of  us  speaking. 
Presently  he  inquired,  'Billy' — he  always  called  me 
by  that  name — 'how  long  have  we  been  together?' 
'Over  sixteen  years,'  I  answered.  'We've  never  had 
a  cross  word  during  all  that  time,  have  we?'  to 
which  I  returned  a  vehement,  'No,  indeed  we  have 
not.'  He  then  recalled  some  of  the  incidents  of 
early  practice  and  took  great  pleasure  in  delineating 
the  ludicrous  features  of  many  a  law  suit  on  the 
circuit.  It  was  at  this  last  interview  in  Spring- 
field that  he  told  me  of  the  efforts  that  had  been 
made  by  other  lawyers  to  supplant  me  in  the  part- 
nership with  him.  He  insisted  that  such  men  were 
weak  creatures,  who,  to  use  his  own  language, 
'hoped  to  secure  a  law  practice  by  hanging  to  his 
coat-tail.'  I  never  saw  him  in  a  more  cheerful 
mood.  He  gathered  up  a  bundle  of  books  and 
papers  he  wished  to  take  with  him  and  started  to  go ; 
but  before  leaving  he  made  the  strange  request  that 
the  sign-board  which  swung  on  its  rusty  hinges  at 
the   foot   of  the   stairway  should   remain.      Let   it 


288  Abraham  Lincoln 

hang  there  undisturbed,'  he  said,  with  a  significant 
lowering  of  his  voice.  'Give  our  clients  to  under- 
stand that  the  election  of  a  President  makes  no 
change  in  the  firm  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon.  If  I 
live  I'm  coming  back  sometime,  and  then  we'll  go 
right  on  practising  law  as  if  nothing  had  ever  hap- 
pened.' He  lingered  a  moment  as  if  to  take  a  look 
at  the  old  quarters,  and  then  passed  through  the 
door  into  the  narrow  hallway.  I  accompanied  him 
down  stairs.  *  *  *  Grasping  my  hand  warmly  and 
with  a  fervent  "Good-bye,"  he  disappeared  down 
the  street,  and  never  came  back  to  the  office. 

The  next  morning  he  was  to  leave  for  Washing- 
ton over  the  Wabash  Route,  and  it  was  dark  and 
lowery.  It  was  a  February  morning  and  raining. 
He  took  his  farewell  forever  to  scenes  made  dear 
by  struggle  and  sorrow.  From  the  rear  end  of  the 
car  he  addressed  his  friends,  republicans  and  demo- 
crats alike,  who  knew  him  well  and  loved  him.  I 
give  his  little  speech  as  he  uttered  it : 

"My  friends :  No  one,  not  in  my  position,  can 
appreciate  my  feelings  of  sadness  at  this  parting. 
To  this  place,  and  the  kindness  of  these  people,  I 
owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a 
century  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old 
man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born  and  one 
of  them  is  buried.  I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when 
or  whether  ever  I  may  return,  with  a  task  before 
me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  Washing- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  289 

ton.  Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being 
who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With 
that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  to  Him 
who  can  go  with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be 
everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all 
will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as 
T  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I 
bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

That  was  a  heart  talk  to  his  friends  from  his 
heart  to  theirs  full  of  warm  and  generous  impulses 
all  his  own.  It  is  beautiful  and  is  full  of  sim- 
plicity and  grace.  It  has  a  right  to  be  ranked 
superior  to  his  Gettysburg  speech  for  that  reason, 
and  because  it  is  so  artless.  There  is  not  a  super- 
fluous word  in  it,  not  too  many  or  too  few. 

I  do  not  design  nor  desire  to  say  anything  of  his 
official  acts  at  Washington.  They  are  all  well 
known  to  the  American  public  and  to  the  world. 
There  is  nothing  to  cover  up. 

The  next  and  last  event,  Mr.  Lincoln's  return 
home  to  Springfield,  is  a  sadder  and  more  serious 
event  to  record,  which  I  do  briefly,  leaving  out  the 
too  saddening  scenes  at  Washington,  after  the  as- 
sassination, as  too  harrowing  to  retrace.  I  have 
spread  out  before  me  at  this  writing,  the  Illinois 
State  Journal,  of  April  15th,  1865,  which  was  once 
the  mouth-piece  and  organ  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in 
his  home  town.  That  issue  is  full  of  startling  in- 
telligence.     Two   of   its   pages   are   full   of  leaded 


290  Abraham  Lincoln 

black  columns  in  mourning  for  him.  I  give  a  little 
of  the  heading  of  the  first  column  of  the  second 
page  as  follows :  *  'Treason  in  the  National  Capital ! 
President  assassinated !  The  work  too  surely  done ! 
President  is  probably  now  no  more.  The  Nation 
mourns  a  loved  and  honest  President,  a  true  patriot 
and  an  honest  man."  Then  followed  three  dis- 
patches. I  give  the  first  as  it  appears  in  the  Jour- 
nal:  "Washington,  April  15th,  12:30  a.m.  The 
President  was  shot  at  a  theatre  tonight,  and  is  prob- 
ably mortally  wounded."  The  second  dispatch 
states,  "The  President  is  not  expected  to  live  through 
the  night,"  and  that  "Secretary  Seward  was  also 
assassinated;"  while  there  follows  a  third  dispatch, 
giving  some  of  the  particulars  which  I  do  not  give, 
as  the  facts  are  all  familiar  to  the  reading  public. 
President  Lincoln  never  regained  consciousness,  and 
died  after  some  hours. 

The  extra  Journal  of  April  20th,  gives  the  an- 
nouncement by  E.  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War, 
of  the  route  to  be  taken  by  the  funeral  train  to 
Springfield.  It  was  by  the  way  of  Baltimore, 
Harrisburg,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Albany,  Buf- 
falo, Cleveland,  Columbus,  Indianapolis,  Chicago 
to  Springfield.  A  pilot  engine,  fittingly  decorated, 
and  having  a  life-size  picture  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the 
front,  headed  the  funeral  train  all  the  way.  When 
the  train  arrived  at  the  station  at  Springfield  over 
the  Alton  and  Chicago  Railway,  an  immense  throng 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  29 1 

awaited  it,  and  there  scarcely  was  a  dry  eye  in  all 
that  crowd. 

His  body  was  borne  to  the  State  Capital  building 
where  it  remained  in  State  for  several  days,  and  then 
was  taken  to  the  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery  and  de- 
posited temporarily,  until  such  time  when  the 
present  Lincoln  monument  could  be  built  where  his 
body  was  finally  deposited,  and  where  it  rests  to- 
day in  peace.  Several  years  afterward  an  attempt 
was  made  to  steal  his  body  away  by  bandits,  but 
they  were  apprehended  by  the  guard  and  were  foiled. 
Since  then  further  precaution  was  taken,  and  by 
encasing  the  casket  beneath  and  on  all  sides  by  a 
mass  of  steel  and  concrete  protecting  it. 

A  little  more  than  four  years  after  he  went  out 
from  among  his  friends  at  Springfield  to  become 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  he  was  returned 
to  them  a  corpse,  the  victim  of  an  assassin.  At 
New  York,  April  22nd,  a  funeral  sermon  by  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  was  preached  in  Plymouth  Pulpit, 
on  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  At  the  close 
of  the  sermon  are  these  words : 

""Four  years  ago,  Oh  Illinois,  we  took  him  from 
your  midst  an  untried  man,  and  from  the  people. 
We  return  him  to  you  a  mighty  conqueror.  Not 
thine  any.  more,  but  the  Nations' ;  not  ours,  but  the 
world's.  Give  him  place,  Oh  ye  prairies!  In  the 
midst  of  this  great  Continent  his  dust  shall  rest,  a 
sacred  treasure  to  myriads  who  shall  pilgrim  to 
that  shrine  to  kindle  anew  their  zeal  and  patriotism !" 


APPENDIX 

The  Views  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the 

Christian  Religion  and  the  Bible. 

HE  AUTHOR  of  this  little  treatise  has 
given  his  own  views  already  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Mr.  Lincoln's  moral  sentiment  and 
the  views  he  entertained  on  the  subject  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  the  Bible  when  he  was  a 
young  man  at  New  Salem  and  for  the  first  few 
years  after  he  came  to  Springfield  to  live.  This 
he  has  given  in  a  former  part  of  this  work,  and  has 
placed  them  in  the  body  of  the  text  with  the  promise 
to  extend  the  inquiry  farther  in  an  appendix.  It  is 
what  others  who  knew  Mr.  Lincoln  well,  and  have 
related  of  him  in  the  time  of  this  early  period  of 
his  history  concerning  his  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  the  Christian  religion  and  the  Bible  as  expressed 
to  them  by  himself  at  this  time.  It  is  this  that  he 
has  reserved  for  this  place.  These  persons  who 
have  related  these  views  were  citizens  of  Spring- 
field and  were  his  friends.  With  few  exceptions 
the  writer  knew  them  all,  and  he  is  satisfied  they 
have  not  borne  evidence  of  misconceptions  as  to 
292 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  293 

what  he  believed  and  expressed  himself  in  their 
presence.  It  is  useless  to  endeavor  to  explain  away 
in  my  zeal  for  Mr.  Lincoln  as  some  biographers 
have  attempted  to  do,  who  never  knew  Mr.  Lincoln 
until  after  he  became  a  great  man  and  an  idol  of 
human  kind,  and  possibly  not  at  all,  but  who  refuse 
to  believe  what  others  have  related  of  him  as  to  the 
religious  notions  he  once  entertained.  His  early 
religious  views  have  passed  into  history,  and  there 
is  no  use  to  try  to  cover  up  those  blemishes,  if  they 
were  such,  as  fabrications  of  political  or  other 
enemies.  His  early  religious  views  were  faulty,  due 
as  it  is  said,  to  the  personal  influence  of  some  of 
his  associates,  and  not  like  that  in  which  he  had  been 
raised  when  he  was  a  small  boy.  But  after  he  came 
to  Springfield  to  live  and  became  acquainted  with 
other  associates  who  were  of  a  different  order  of 
mind  religiously,  he  outgrew  much  of  that  faulty 
bias  and  prejudice,  and  yielded  to  a  more  salutary 
influence. 

The  people  of  Springfield  were  church  goers,  and 
Lincoln  formed  the  habit  of  going  to  church  the 
same  as  others.  It  was  yet  too  soon  and  the  city  too 
small  for  the  entertainment  of  theatres.  Besides 
the  churches,  after  the  capital  of  the  State  was  mov- 
ed there,  always  managed  to  maintain  some  of  the 
best  men  the  ministry  afforded  of  the  respective 
denominations,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians, 
Episcopalian,  and   others.      Somehow    Mr.   Lincoln 


294  Abraham  Lincoln 

became  a  frequent  attendant  at  the  Presbyterian 
church  where  was  the  venerable  Dr.  Smith,  for  quite 
a  number  of  years,  a  Scotchman,  and  a  very  strong 
man,  whose  logic  and  whole-heartedness  was  well 
nigh  irresistible  and  entirely  too  much  for  one  of 
his  age  and  experience  to  hold  out  against.  Oc- 
casionally he  would  stop  in  with  his  wife  at  Saint 
Paul's  Episcopal  church  whose  rector  for  many 
years  was  old  Dr.  Dresser,  an  able  and  spiritually 
minded  clergyman.  These  two  churches  were  near 
together,  and  she  was  a  member  of  that  church. 
Saint  and  sinner  went  to  church  in  those  days  when 
infidels,  agnostics  and  modernists  were  not  so 
plentiful  as  in  these  days.  Shall  we  not  accord  to 
him  the  same  privilege  and  benefit  that  we  do  to 
other  folk,  of  a  change  of  mind  from  worse  to  bet- 
ter even  if  some  things  do  not  become  just  what 
suits  some  of  us  and  not  quite  to  the  liking  of  others. 
It  is  reported  that  Mr.  Lincoln  underwent  a  change 
of  mind.  His  farewell  address  to  the  citizens  of 
Springfield  indicates  as  much,  and  the  writer  is  go- 
ing to  show  from  what  that  change  was  unto 
what  he  afterward  became  in  his  religious  opin- 
ions. Such  is  the  purpose  of  this  appendix,  and  a 
transcription  from  the  later  edition  of  Herndon  and 
Weik's  two  volume  Work  on  the  life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  will  be  introduced  here,  which  the  writer 
considers  the  best  analysis  of  his  religious  belief  he 
has  yet  seen. 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  29  S 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Views  on  the  Christian  Religion 
and  the  Bible 

'Tn  1834,  while  still  living  in  New  Salem  and  be- 
fore he  became  a  lawyer,  he  was  surrounded  by  a 
class  of  people  exceedingly  liberal  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion. Volney's  'Ruins'  and  Pain's  'Age  of  Reason' 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  and  furnished  food  for 
the  evening's  discussion  in  the  tavern  and  village 
store.  Lincoln  read  both  these  books  and  thus  as- 
similated them  into  his  own  being.  He  prepared 
an  extended  essay — called  by  name  a  book — in 
which  he  made  an  argument  against  Christianity, 
striving  to  prove  that  the  Bible  was  not  inspired, 
and  therefore  not  of  God's  revelation  and  Jesus 
Christ  was  not  the  Son  of  God.  The  manuscript 
containing  these  audacious  and  comprehensive  prop- 
ositions he  intended  to  have  published  or  given 
wide  circulation  in  some  other  way.  He  carried 
it  to  the  store,  where  it  was  read  and  freely  discuss- 
ed. His  friend  and  employer,  Samuel  Hill  was 
among  the  listeners,  and  seriously  questioning  the 
propriety  of  a  promising  young  man  like  Lincoln 
fathering  such  unpopular  notions,  he  snatched  the 
manuscript  from  his  hands  and  thrust  it  into  the 
stove.  The  book  went  up  in  flames,  and  Lincoln's 
political  future  was  secure.  But  his  infidelity  and 
his  skeptical  views  were  not  diminished.  He  soon 
removed  to  Springfield,  where  he  attracted  con- 
siderable  notice    by   his   rank   doctrine.     Much   of 


296  Abraham  Lincoln 

what  he  then  said  may  be  credited  to  his  impetuosity 
and  exuberance  of  youth.  One  of  his  closest  friends 
whose  name  is  withheld,  narrating  scenes  and  re- 
viewing discussions  that  in  1839  took  place  in  the 
office  of  the  county  clerk,  says :  'Sometimes  Lincoln 
bordered  on  to  atheism.  He  went  far  that  way, 
and  shocked  me.***He  would  come  into  the  clerk's 
office  where  I  and  some  young  men  were  writing 
and  staying,  and  would  bring  the  Bible  with  him ; 
would  read  a  chapter  and  argue  against  it.  *** 
Lincoln  was  enthusiastic  in  his  infidelity.  As  he 
grew  older  he  grew  more  discreet ;  didn't  talk  much 
before  strangers  about  religion;  but  to  friends,  close 
and  bosom  ones,  he  was  always  open  and  avowed, 
fair  and  honest  to  strangers,  he  held  them  off  from 
policy.'  John  T.  Stuart,  who  was  Lincoln's  first 
partner,  substantially  endorses  the  above.  'He  was 
an  avowed  and  open  infidel,'  declares  Stuart,  'and 
against  Christian  beliefs  and  doctrines  and  prin- 
ciples than  I  ever  heard;  he  shocked  me.  I  don't 
remember  the  exact  line  of  his  argument;  suppose 
it  was  against  inherent  defects,  so  called,  of  the 
Bible  and  on  grounds  of  reason.  Lincoln  always 
denied  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ  of  God — denied 
that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God  as  understood  and 
maintained  by  the  Christian  Church.'  David  Davis 
tells  us  this :  'The  idea  that  Lincoln  talked  to  strang- 
ers about  his  religion  or  his  religious  views,  or  made 
such  speeches  and  remarks  as  are  published,  is  to  me 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  297 

absurd.  I  knew  the  man  so  well;  he  was  the  most 
reticent,  secretive  man  I  ever  saw  or  expect  to  see. 
He  had  no  faith,  in  the  Christian  sense  of  the  term — 
had  faith  in  laws,  principles,  causes  and  effects.' 
Another  man  (William  H.  Hannah)  testifies  as 
follows :  'Mr.  Lincoln  told  me  that  he  was  a  kind  of 
immortalist;  that  he  never  could  bring  himself  to  be- 
lieve in  eternal  punishment;  that  man  lived  but  a 
little  while  here ;  and  that  if  enternal  punishment  were 
man's  doom,  he  should  spend  that  little  life  in  vig- 
ilant and  ceaseless  preparation  by  never-ending 
prayer.'  Another  intimate  friend  (I.  W.  Keys) 
furnishes  this :  'In  my  intercourse  with  Mr.  Lincoln 
I  learned  that  he  believed  in  a  Creator  of  all  things, 
who  had  neither  beginning  nor  end,  possessing  all 
power  and  wisdom,  established  a  principle  in  obe- 
dience to  which  worlds  move  and  are  upheld,animal 
nature  and  vegetable  life  come  into  existence.  A 
reason  he  gave  for  his  belief  was  that  in  view  of 
order  and  harmony  of  all  nature  which  we  behold, 
it  would  have  been  more  miraculous  to  have  come 
about  by  chance  than  to  have  been  created  and  ar- 
ranged by  some  great  thinking  power.  As  to  the 
Christian  theory  that  Christ  is  God  or  equal  to  the 
Creator,  he  said  it  had  to  be  taken  for  granted ;  for  by 
the  test  of  reason  we  might  become  infidels  on  that 
subject,  for  evidence  of  Christ's  divinity  came  to  us 
in  a  somewhat  doubtful  shape;  but  that  the  system 
of  Christianity  was  an  ingenious  one  at  least  and 
perhaps  was  calculated  to  do  good.' 


298  Abraham  Lincoln 

Mr.  Herndon  says,  in  speaking  further  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  views  on  the  subject  of  Christianity,  the 
latter  confided  the  details  of  his  religious  belief  to 
Mr.  Jesse  W.  Fell  who,  in  the  biography  given  him, 
furnishes  a  more  elaborate  account  of  his  religion 
than  anyone  else.  I  give  it  here  as  I  find  it  in  what 
his  law  partner  has  left  on  record  in  his  work  on  the 
life  of  Lincoln :  "If  there  were  any  traits  of  charact- 
er that  stood  out  in  bold  relief  in  the  person  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  they  were  those  of  truth  and  candor.  He 
was  utterly  incapable  of  insincerity  or  professing 
views  on  this  or  any  other  subject  he  did  not  en- 
tertain. Knowing  such  to  be  his  true  character, 
that  insincerity,  much  more  duplicity,  were  traits 
wholly  foreign  to  his  nature,  many  of  his  old  friends 
were  not  a  little  surprised  at  finding  in  some  of  the 
biographies  of  the  great  man  statements  concern- 
ing his  religious  opinions  so  utterly  at  variance 
with  his  known  sentiments.  True,  he  may  have 
changed  or  modified  these  sentiments  *  after  his  re- 

The    matter    of    the    note    will    explain    itself.      Mr.    Nicolay    was 
private    secretary    to    Mr.    Lincoln    at    Washington    from    Springfield. 
Friend    Herndon  : 

Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  to  my  knowledge  in  any  way 
change  his  religions  ideas,  opinions  or  helief  from  the  time  he  left 
Springfield  to  the  day  of  his  death.  T  do  not  know  just  what  they 
were,  never  having  heard  him  explain  them  in  detail ;  hut  I  am 
very  sure  he  gave  no  'outward  indication  of  his  mind  having  under- 
gone   any    change    in    that    regard    while    here. 

Yours    truly, 

Jno.G. Nicolay, 
Note    hy    the   Author: 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Herndon  were  in  intimate  relation  as  law 
partner^  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  knew  each  other  thoroughly. 
It  is  very  prohahle  that  the!  latter  knew  Mr.  Lincoln  better  than  any 
other  man.  The  writer  knew  Mr.  Herndon's  family  and  himself  not 
intimately,  but  well  enough  to  know  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  warm. 
er  or  better  friend  nnywhere  th?n  his  law  partner;  no  one  who  would 
do    more    for   him   that    was    within    his   power    or    who    would    say   leas 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  299 

moval  from  among  us,  though  this  is  hardly  re- 
concilable with  the  history  of  the  man,  and  his  en- 
tire devotion  to  public  matters  during  his  four  years 
residence  at  the  national  capital.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  this  may  be  the  proper  solution  of 
this  conflict  of  opinions;  or  it  may  be  that  with  no 
intention  on  the  part  of  anyone  to  mislead  the 
public  mind,  those  who  have  represented  him  as 
believing  in  the  popular  theological  views  of  the 
times  may  have  misrepresented  him,  as  experience 
shows  to  be  quite  common  where  no  special  effort 
has  been  made  to  attain  critical  accuracy  on  a  sub- 
ject of  this  nature.  This  is  the  more  probable  from 
the  well-known  fact,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  seldom  com- 
municated to  any  one  his  views  on  this  subject ;  but 
be  this  as  it  may,  I  have  no  hesitation  whatever  in 
saying  that  whilst  he  held  many  opinions  in  common 
with  the  great  mass  of  Christian  believers,  he  did 


against  him  which  could  do  him  injury,  or  who  would  misrepresent 
him  wilfully  in  any  way,  even  ©speqially,  in  the  matter  of  his  re- 
ligion. Moreover,  he  endeavored,  in  collecting  materials  for  his 
work  on  the  life  of  Lincoln,  to  arrive  at  the  exact  truth  ahout  him, 
was  more  pains-taking — an  indefatigable  worker — in  his  researches 
after  information  about  the  man  in  that  which  was  the  truth  in  order 
not  to  misrepresent  him  than  all  his  biographers  put  together  so 
far  as  the  writer  knows.  The  above  note  from  Mr.  Nicolay  shows  his 
careful  painstaking.  The  writer  knew  Mr.  Nicolay,  and  was  ren- 
dered a  personal  favor  by  him  during  the  first  part  of  his  ^tay  in 
Paris,  France.  Mr.  Nicolay  was  then  U.  S.  Consul  at  Paris.  The 
writer  sought  as  a  matter  of  personal  favor  a  life  membership  to  all 
the  privileges  of  the  Bibliotheque  Impiriate  except  that  of  the  an- 
cient Manuscripts,  maps,  and  charts.  To  procure  such  a  favor  re- 
quired a  letter  of  introduction  and  recommendations,  as  it  had  to 
be  voted  upon  by  the  trustees  of  the  institution.  It  was  then  that 
he  sought  Mr.  Nicolay.  He  was  a  personal  friend  of  my  aunt's 
family,  and  knew  of  me  through  them  back  in  Springfield.  He 
furnished  me  with  the  favors  asked,  which  procured  the  coveted 
privileges. 


300  Abraham  Lincoln 

not  believe  in  what  are  regarded  as  the  orthodox  or 
evangelical  views  of  Christianity. 

"On  the  innate  depravity  of  man,  the  character 
and  office  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  the 
atonement,  the  infallibility  of  the  written  revelation, 
the  performance  of  miracles,  the  nature  and  design 
of  present  and  future  rewards  and  punishment  (as 
they  are  popularly  called),  and  many  other  sub- 
jects he  held  opinions  utterly  at  variance  with  what 
are  usually  taught  in  the  Church.  I  should  say 
that  his  expressed  views  on  these  and  kindred  topics 
were  such  as,  in  the  estimation  of  most  believers, 
would  place  him  outside  the  principles  and  practices 
and  the  spirit  of  his  whole  life  were  of  the  very 
kind  we  universally  agree  to  call  Christian ;  and  T 
think  this  conclusion  is  in  no  wise  affected  by  the 
circumstances  that  he  never  attached  himself  to 
any  religious  society  whatever. 

"His  religious  views  were  eminently  practical, 
and  are  summed  up,  as  I  think,  in  these  two  prop- 
ositions :  the  Father-hood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man.  He  fully  believed  in  a  superintending 
Providence  that  guides  and  controls  the  operations  of 
the  world,  but  maintained  that  law  and  order,  and 
not  their  violation  or  suspension,  are  the  appointed 
means  by  which  this  Providence  is  exercised." 

"I  will  not  attempt  any  specification  of  either  his 
belief  or  disbelief  on  various  religious  topics,  as  de- 
rived from  conversations  with  him  at  different  times 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  301 

during  a  considerable  period;  but  as  conveying  a 
general  view  of  his  religious  or  theological  opinions, 
will  state  the  following  facts.  Some  eight  or  ten 
years  prior  to  his  death,  in  conversing  with  him 
upon  the  subject,  the  writer  took  occasion  to  refer, 
in  terms  of  approbation,  to  the  sermons  and  writings 
generally  of  Dr.  W.  E.  Channing;  and  finding  he 
was  considerably  interested  in  the  statements  I  made 
of  the  opinions  held  by  that  author,  I  proposed  to 
present  him  (Lincoln)  a  copy  of  Channing's  entire 
works,  which  I  soon  after  did.  Subsequently  the 
works  of  Theodore  Parker,  furnished  him  as  he 
informed  me,  by  his  friend  and  law-partner,  Wil- 
liam H.  Herndon,  became  naturally  the  topics  of 
conversation  with  us ;  and  though  far  from  believing 
there  was  harmony  of  views  on  his  part  with  either 
of  these  authors,  yet  they  were  generally  much  ad- 
mired and  approved  by  him. 

"No  religious  views  with  him  seemed  to  find  any 
favor  except  of  practical  and  rationalistic  order ;  and 
if,  from  my  recollection  on  the  subject,  I  was  called 
upon  to  designate  an  author  whose  views  most 
nearly  resembled  Mr.  Lincoln's  on  the  subject,  I 
would  say  that  author  was  Theodore  Parker." 

"The  last  witness  to  testify  before  this  case  is 
submitted  to  the  reader  is  no  less  a  person  than  Mrs. 
Lincoln  herself.  In  a  statement  at  a  time  and  under 
circumstances  detailed  in  a  subsequent  chapter,"  says 
Mr.  Herndon  in  his  work  on  Lincoln,  "she  said  this :" 


302  Abraham  Lincoln 

'Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  faith  and  no  hope  in  the  usual 
acceptation  of  those  words.  He  never  joined  a 
church;  but  still,  as  I  believe,  he  was  a  religious  man 
by  nature.  He  first  seemed  to  think  about  the  sub- 
ject when  our  boy  Willie  died,  and  then  more  than 
ever  about  the  time  he  went  to  Gettysburg;  but  it 
was  a  kind  of  poetry  in  his  nature,  and  he  was  never 
a  technical  Christian. 

I  now  give  what  Mr.  Herndon  has  stated  in  his 
conclusion  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  belief,  which  is  a 
brief  summary  of  what  he  understood  his  religious 
belief  to  be;  after  which,  I  shall  conclude  with  the 
statement  of  a  Baptist  minister,  which  has  lately 
come  to  my  knowledge  from  another  source,  and 
then  I  am  done  with  this  subject. 

"No  man  had  a  stronger  or  firmer  faith  in  Provi- 
dence— God — than  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  the  continued 
use  by  him  late  in  life  of  the  word  God  must  not  be 
interpreted  to  mean  that  he  believed  in  a  personal 
God.  In  1854  he  asked  me  to  erase  the  Word  God 
from  a  speech  which  I  had  written  and  read  to  him 
for  criticism  because  my  language  indicated  a  per- 
sonal God,  whereas  he  insisted  no  such  personality 
ever  existed. 

"My  own  testimony,  however,  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  religious  views  may  invite  discussion.  The 
world  has  always  insisted  on  making  an  orthodox 
Christian  of  him,  and  to  analyze  his  sayings  or  sound 
his  beliefs   is  best  to  break  the  idol.     It  only  re- 


Early  Days  in  Illinois  303 

mains  to  say  that,  whether  orthodox  or  not,  he  be- 
lieved in  God  and  immortality;  and  even  if  he  ques- 
tioned the  existence  of  future  eternal  punishment 
he  hoped  to  find  a  rest  from  trouble  and  a  heaven 
beyond  the  grave.  If  at  anytime  in  his  life  he  was 
skeptical  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  Bible  he  ought 
not  for  that  reason  to  be  condemed;  for  he  ac- 
cepted the  practical  precepts  of  that  great  book  as 
binding  alike  upon  his  head  and  conscience.  The 
benevolence  of  his  impulses,  the  seriousness  of  his 
convictions,  and  the  nobility  of  his  character  are 
evidences  unimpeachable  that  his  soul  was  ever  filled 
with  the  exalted  purity  and  sublime  faith  of  natural 
religion." 

I  give  in  closing  this  account  of  the  different  ones 
who  have  given  their  opinions  concerning  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's religious  views  and  his  estimate  of  the  Bible, 
the  first  paragraph  of  a  letter  from  Rev.  James 
Lemen  to  his  son  Dr.  Moses  P.  Lemen  of  DuQuoin, 
Illinois,  relative  to  some  things  about  Mr.  Douglas 
and  incidentally  about  Mr.  Lincoln  in  connection 
with  the  religious  views  and  opinions  of  the  former : 
"My  dear  son: 

I  am  pleased  to  learn  that  you  are  studying 
Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas'  life  history,  as  he  was 
not  only  a  remarkable  man,  but  was  a  very  warm 
friend  to  me.  I  was  thrown  with  him  and  Abraham 
Lincoln  a  great  deal  in  Springfield  and  elsewhere, 
and  each  was  a  very  near  and  dear  friend  of  mine. 


304  Abraham  Lincoln 

As  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  was  his  confidential  re- 
ligious adviser  for  many  years,  and  was  one  of 
the  only  two  ministers  who  ever  heard  him  pray, 
and  I  now  have  a  copy  of  one  of  his  most  beautiful 
prayers.  Lincoln's  temperament  and  moods  in- 
clined him  more  to  religious  matters,  but  Douglas 
as  I  know  from!  his  own  expressions,  was  a  firm  be- 
liever in  the  Christian  religion  and  the  divinity  of 
the  Scriptures;  but  he  was  not  a  sectarian."  Quoted 
from  Mr.  Stevens'  Life  of  Douglas,  Journal  of  the 
Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  Nos.  3-4,  page  655. 


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